Crown of Stone
by MidKnight Rider
Summary: SG1 escorts a native princess to an ancient Temple to prove her identity as the True Heir. Adventure, mayhem and romance along the way. Slightly AU I loved writing this and I am working on a sequel. So glad I found Stargate
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place at the beginning of season 4 while Daniel is still recovering from his surgery, so just after **_**Small Victories **_**and just before **_**The Other Side.**_** Daniel and my OC, Jillian, start to actively pursue a relationship some time after **_**The Devil You Know **_**and consummate it just after **_**Urgo, **_**probably while Jack is missing on Edora**_**.**_** The existence of Jillian in my stories makes this an AU, though I will try to stay as close to canon as possible. I just hate that Daniel is so alone, so I had to fix that. Jillian is based on the person Osiris pretended to be in Chimera, the person Daniel's subconscious created as an 'ideal mate.' But she's also my alter ego – created as an answer to the fact that Daniel Jackson has my 'dream job.'**

**A review I received on another story asked me for a warning about Sam/Jack UST. I have since discovered that UST means Unresolved Sexual Tension.**

**Umm, I see Sam and Jack as an Unrequited Love and I don't mix up love and sex, though that is pretty common in American culture. However, out of respect, I'll restate – in my stories, especially until I finish watching the series and see how this goes, Sam and Jack are UL, not UST. In other words, they love each other without being able to explore or acknowledge that; they do not lust after each other. There's a big difference between "I care about her more than I should" and "I want to get in her pants", and I only ever heard Jack claim one of those things. I hope that makes sense.**

**Their unrequited love is actually a very important back story to this entire tale; as is the fact that Daniel and Jillian have done every **_**except**_** admit they love each other, even though they do.**

**The story is long, but as Chaka told Daniel, "it takes as long as it takes." I go where the Muse takes me.**

**Also, the scene at the waterfall with Daniel and Jillian was written and edited out. It was written for my own personal enjoyment, not because it actually advanced the plot. If anyone wants to read it, I'll post it as a separate story. The harsh words that Jack and Daniel have just before leaving to go to the Temple was also never written, but I know what happened. ;-)**

**Disclaimer: Everyone and everything recognizable as Stargate SG1 belongs to the creators and not to me. I just take their toys down off the shelf and play with them for a while.**

**Crown of Stone**

Daniel woke to the first rays of sunlight that filtered through the ivory linen of the tent, tangled in sheets and pillows. He managed to roll over fast enough to cover a sneeze with his elbow, shielding it from his sleeping companion. He dropped carelessly back on the pillows and opened his eyes, bringing the tent into focus – or at least as much focus as he could manage.

He and a team of archaeologists had been living on P3X-2016 for three months, absorbing the local culture and crawling like ants over enormous ruins thousands of years old. Among other things, they were searching for the reason Liaro seemed to be completely off the radar of the Goa'uld.

But the pollens on P3X-2016 – a planet known locally as Liaro – seemed to have a personal vendetta against him.

Woken by his sudden movement, the woman beside him stirred. She looked up, leaf-green eyes blinking. She brushed tousled chestnut hair away from her face.

"Allergy medication wearing off?" she asked in a voice still muzzy with sleep.

"Yeah," he agreed, wiping both hands over watering eyes," and I'm out. It was on the list of supplies Jack is supposed to bring when they get back today."

He moved onto his side and gathered her into his arms. Dr. Jillian Anne North – PhD in archaeology, ancient religions and LLC (Language, Literacy and Culture) with an emphasis on ancient history, Dr. Jan to her colleagues and students – rolled over and curled up with him.

Jillian was a member of SG-8 when they needed a linguist or expert in ancient cultures, particularly anything from Babylon to Persia to Arabia. She had been invited to join the SGC at his insistence, after he had read her dissertation. Something with the title _Analyzing The Writing of Gods: The Evolution of Divine Classifiers in the Old Kingdom_ was bound to get his attention. He had been unable to put it down, and had eventually read it twice. Her knowledge of ancient Arabia and pre-Islamic gods was the reason she was on this dig site. The discovery of a handful of artifacts a year ago had been the reason he had started working closely with Jillian in the first place. He had been aware of her before that. No one could be in the same place with Jillian for even a short time and not become aware of her. He had even collaborated on several small projects and reports with her since the founding of the Stargate program.

Brilliant, beautiful, patient, the source of a slender bright ray of hope and laughter in his life, Jillian had become his lover over a year ago. She had shared this tent and this nest of pillows and soft linens for the last month.

As her long legs brushed against his she tilted her head and smiled in a sleepy, wicked way.

"I see the sun isn't the only thing that is up."

Daniel felt the heat rise up his neck and into his face. He had never known anyone as uninhibited as Jillian North. Of course that might have been because he would never have pursued a woman as beautiful or talented or confident as she was; not in the past at least.

She was shocking and exhilarating, kind and gentle. After figuring out that her passion and the depth of her free spirit were only for him, he was learning to keep up with her.

His long fingers pressed the small of her back to bring her closer.

"Well," he said, slowly, "It IS morning and I did wake up with a beautiful woman in my bed. The combination is … deadly."

She laughed, just as he turned his head to sneeze violently into the pillows. Sniffing and gasping for breath he said, ruefully.

"Well that isn't very romantic is it?"

"It doesn't matter," she said, nuzzling his shoulder, "Once you've called a woman beautiful, you're good for the day."

He wiped his eyes on the back of his arm. She rested her forehead on his chest and lightly kissed him just over his pounding heart. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her as if to absorb her into his soul. Jillian had brought physical and emotional fulfillment back into his life. But there was also a spiritual quality he hadn't quite named or figured out- one that had nothing to do with the number of times he had heard her breathlessly say, "oh, God."

At the moment, he doubted he could manage to kiss her without sneezing again.

"Really?" he asked, ignoring the surge of blood her tender ministries caused, "How is that working for Karufu? He sings your praises very day and he's still trying to buy you from me."

Jillian smiled a little at the image of the eager little man who was so smitten with her that he had been trying to buy her from Daniel since the moment they arrived.

She snuggled against the warm length of him, all muscle and naked skin, and sighed. For the moment, it was perfect.

"So what is my going price now?" she wondered out loud.

Daniel turned onto his back and closed his eyes so the blurry room wouldn't make him dizzy.

"Umm, let's see. Yesterday it was up to a small herd of goats, a few camels, two very lovely horses he assures me are proven race champions and a tent roughly ….oh the size of my condo back home."

Another horrific sneeze almost caught him off guard and he barely turned his head in time. Gods, the rest of SG-1 couldn't get here fast enough with his medication. They were returning with the heir to the Clan, who had gone through the Gate with them for a life-saving operation. Maia was vital to the continued peace and prosperity of her people, but at the moment, Daniel just wanted his allergy medication.

When he looked at her again, sympathy and a fair bit of amusement danced in her green eyes.

"I'm glad you find this funny," he said.

A shout from somewhere outside interrupted her reply.

"Daniel!"

Daniel groaned, "Jack," he muttered, "Think of the Devil…"

Jillian watched him fling back the covers, scattering jewel-toned pillows, and striding naked across the short distance between the bed and the woven trunk that held his clothes. Tall, broad shoulders, ridiculously smooth skin stretched over rippling muscles, long waist and slender hips… Exquisite from the back, from the front…..Gods he was delicious and damn Jack's timing anyway.

"DANIEL!"

"In here!" Daniel yelled, hastily pulling on a pair of beige linen pants.

He glanced at the bed and found that Jillian had only burrowed under the sheets and disappeared.

"Jillian? It's not like they don't all know about us." He was confused for a moment because Jillian wasn't exactly shy.

She peeked out briefly. "Knowing about us and being caught in bed are two different things."

Daniel slipped his glasses on and focused on her. Chestnut hair, tousled from sleep and passion, tumbled carelessly around bare shoulders. The part of him which had begun to focus on the immediate task of getting dressed was immediately derailed by the effect of seeing her there- the long lines of her lovely body tangled in the rumpled covers of her bed, waiting for him to come back to her. She was dishevelment and desire. Heat surged again and he swallowed hard.

"Okay, maybe you're right," he said, deliberately looking away.

She dove back under the covers just as Jack burst through the tent flap still yelling,

"DANIEL!"

"I'm right here!" Daniel said, annoyance tempered by grudging affection vivid on his face as he attempted to tie the drawstring on his pants tighter.

"Oh, there you are," Jack said, in a casual tone that made Daniel want to choke him. "Been looking for you."

"Where else would I be at dawn, Jack, except in bed?" He bent over to pull a tunic out of the trunk, deliberately not looking at his supposed 'CO.'

Jack tossed his head in the general direction of the outside. "Crawling around the ruins out there digging up old stuff with strange writing? You love old stuff with strange writing. You could find Waldo in under a minute as long as he was old and had strange writing."

Daniel straightened with a groan and looked at the tent wall in front of him without seeing it for a moment.

"That was going to wait until after breakfast today. We've been waiting for Maia. There's a ceremony in case you forgot," he paused, and shook his head, "I'm glad you're back. Her grandfather is not doing well."

Jack was silent. He did not handle death well. Finally he said, without much hope, "I guess there is nothing we can do?"

"No." The word was a long, sorrowful sigh. He looked down at the tunic and bunched it together in his fists. A fine tremor ran across his broad shoulders and down his back, "It's just his age. Everything is failing. When he dies, Maia will be the last of that line until she produces an heir. Even with her arranged marriage with the head of the other Clan, things will be unstable until then."

Daniel pulled the blue tunic over his head and tugged it into place before turning back to give Jack his full attention. Shock froze him in place and then he shouted,

"What the hell happened to you?"

The horror in his voice brought Jillian upright in bed, hastily grasping the sheets in her fist and holding them under her chin. Military trained, Jack whirled into a defensive stance and then instantly relaxed when he saw her.

"Morning, Jillian," he said.

"Jack," she breathed his name with equal horror.

An angry, painful redness marched up Jack's neck from his shoulder, swollen up into the line of his jaw and disappearing beneath the edge of his collar. Whatever wound he had suffered, it was clearly, massively infected.

Jack remained unruffled, ignoring the question and the concern as if that could make it vanish.

"Nice to see the Janiel is still going strong after all these weeks," he remarked.

"Jack," Daniel said, again, in the voice of a man whose patience was being sorely tried. Then he paused, momentarily taken in by Jack's attempted deflection. "Wait …. The Janiel?"

Jack nodded, mild and innocent as a lamb, "Yeah. Daniel, Dr. Jan. The Janiel."

Daniel rubbed his forehead as if a headache was coming on. "Okay, we'll get back to that," he said, desperately needing to reorder his world and bring back some logic and sense, "What happened to your neck?"

Jack looked down and then sideways. He was saved from answering when the tent flap burst open to admit Teal'c. Jillian drew the sheet up higher.

"Colonel O'Neill was bitten by a poisonous carnivorous plant on P3X-990," he stated bluntly, "Good Morning, Daniel Jackson," he paused and nodded politely at Jillian, "Good morning, Dr. North."

Daniel blinked like an owl, mouth opened. "You were….you were bitten by a…a plant?"

"Yep," Jack nodded," Big sucker too."

"Are you going to be all right? What are you doing here?" Jillian asked.

"Colonel O'Neill is here against the wishes of Dr. Frasier," Teal'c's voice was oddly disapproving considering how toneless it was.

"I'm fine," Jack said, dismissively. When Daniel and Jillian continued to stare at him in horror he said, "Look, we went back to 990 to ask them for some of that medicine stuff for Maia. She was having a hard time recovering from the surgery and Doc Frasier thought it would help. While we were there one of the kids escaped and took off into the understory and we went after him." He paused and shrugged, with that careless nonchalance that often made Daniel want to strangle him, "Got the kid back and he's safe, but I had a run in with a mean-tempered plant. No big deal."

Jillian looked up at Daniel. He knew Jack better than she did. She watched as Daniel closed his mouth finally, a muscle twitching in his jaw as it tightened. He swallowed, looked away a moment before looking back at Jack.

And then Carter joined them. She at least had the grace to look embarrassed when she took in the situation, her fair skin blushing light pink. Too disciplined to back down she said,

"Respectfully, sir, it IS a big deal. You have to have an injection of the medicine the Malu prepared for you every 12 hours or you'll die."

"Jack!" Daniel burst out, raking his fingers over the top of his head in a gesture of infinite frustration.

"Every 11 hours and 39 minutes, by earth reckoning" Teal'c intoned. Jack frowned at him and Teal'c fixed him with a brief, brutal glance before focusing inward again.

A sea-green ocean of misery swam in Samantha's eyes, betraying her feelings under the military calm.

The tableau was broken when Daniel was seized by a fit of sneezing that doubled him over. When he finally stopped Jack said, calmly, "Bless you. Look, it's just a delivery mission and we stay for the ceremony making Maia the official heir to the throne and then we go home. We've got the injections with us and we've got your allergy meds. Come on, you can't tell me you aren't glad to have those!"

"You could have tossed those through the Gate, Jack. They didn't need to be hand delivered."

"I'm on medical leave," Jack said as if offering a child a candy bar to stop a temper tantrum, "That puts SG-1 on stand down, and _that_ should make you happy. You can stay here until I get cleared."

"The Air Force pays my salary, Jack. It doesn't order me around," Daniel pointed out.

Familiar with Daniel's abrupt mood changes, no one was surprised when he suddenly straightened and seemed to shake himself awake. There was only so much chaos the scientist could handle; only so much information he could process and he was actually not a very patient man. He speared them with a look that should have melted his glasses and said, "Okay, out! All of you. It's too early for this. You're like..like…like a pack of unruly St. Bernards."

"What is a St. Bernard?" Teal'c asked.

"Out!" Daniel ordered

Samantha ducked out like the tent was on fire. Teal'c marched out with great dignity, so controlled he barely stirred the sand. Jack started to go but then turned, reached into a pocket and said, "Here."

He underhanded a bottle of pills across the space between them and Daniel deftly snagged it out of the air. Without looking he knew it was his allergy meds.

Jack was almost out of the tent before he looked back in, "Oh, and Daniel?" He nodded towards Jillian. His eyes danced with mischief, "Hold out for a couple of more horses. She's worth every one of 'em."

Jillian burst out laughing and Daniel shouted, "_OUT_!"


	2. Chapter 2

Liaro was a fascinating place to a scientist. A transported society with roots in Earth's pre-Islamic Arabia, they lived in a desert valley between two immense mountain chains. They had retained their semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving seasonally between the few flourishing bodies of water in the valley, while developing advanced solar powered systems that gave them air conditioning, running water, lights and the ability to use computers and other electronic equipment. At the moment, they were nestled peacefully amidst the ruins of what once had been an ancient city.

The people called themselves the Bak'ri Araganothri – The People of the Crucible - and they had welcomed the SGC teams as long lost relatives. They were considered honored guests, sent through the Great Circle by the gods that had once protected them from Goh-ul until the coming of Theroc.

Once Jillian had been able to translate the first tablets to be uncovered and determine their origin, an archaeological team had been sent to see what more could be found. It had taken a while actually find the ruined city buried in the sand. A long term archaeological dig had been established and Daniel had been prepared to grovel for the chance to go. He was, at the moment, tired to the bone of carrying a weapon and being shot at. He had come to accept that he loved his SG team like the family he had never had, but all families can wear thin. His last altercation with Jack – bossy over bearing impossible Jack - had left him drained. At times Daniel wondered why he had ever thought having an older brother would be just great.

Immersed now in the exhilaration of new cultures and new languages and discovery, adapting like a chameleon to them, exploring the possibility that he could have a romantic involvement with a beautiful, brilliant woman and not feel like he was being unfaithful, Daniel was more relaxed than he had been in ages. Now his 'family' had regrouped and that felt perfect too; and if he still wanted to strangle O'Neill half the time, that was normal.

He strode easily down the path between the tents, long legs devouring the ground in front of him with the easy grace of a young lion. The soft desert wind teased the native cloth, alternately lifting them and plastering them again his sun tanned skin.

"Daniel! Wait!"

For the second time that morning a member of his team called to him. He slowed slightly and looked over his shoulder to find Sam crossing the sand in his direction.

Sam rarely annoyed him, and when she did, he could never stay mad very long. He let her catch up.

Okay, on one condition," he said when she finally joined him. He adjusted his stride to hers with the automatic ease of those who had served long together. Daniel was tall. Few men could match his stride and at the moment he knew only two women who came close – Sam and Jillian.

His ice-blue eyes were hidden behind tinted lenses and he continued gazing straight ahead as they walked.

"What's that?" she asked.

"If you say the word 'Janiel' I will never speak to you again, ever, in my lifetime."

Sam laughed.

"I thought you liked new words," she said.

"Not that one," he replied.

Sam stopped smiling and regarded Daniel. He had to be the kindest, gentlest, sweetest soul she had ever encountered…..

But his tolerance had a limit and when that limit was reached there was a core of titanium. Sam understood this time. Daniel had been helplessly, hopelessly in love with the wife he hadn't been able to save. He was walking into uncharted waters with Jillian and not ready for Jack's teasing, no matter how well-intentioned.

"He doesn't mean anything by it, Daniel. He's just trying to get you to ignore how bad his wound is."

There was a hesitation, a slight hitch in Daniel's breathing. After a pause he said, "And how bad _is_ it?"

"It's bad enough," she said, briefly.

"Sam," Daniel managed to pack an entire sentence into that one short syllable. _Keep talking or I will pester you about it until you do._

She put her hand on his arm, stopped walking and made him turn to face her.

"He nearly died." Her words were quick and blunt, as if they were too hard to say and the memory too painful to dredge up.

Daniel's eyes were hidden. He appeared to be staring straight ahead, past her. A small muscle tightened in his jaw and he swallowed.

Sam went on, "The plant was huge. They call it a Spiny Thrill Killer, for good reason. It grabbed him by the shoulder. It left deep punctures and the poison works fast. We barely got him back up to the city in the canopy. If not for Teal'c, I couldn't have moved him on my own; and now if he doesn't get those shots….."

"But he'll get the shots, right?" Ice calm, his voice was no more than a whisper in the dark.

"Of course," Sam said with forced cheerfulness. But the memory was real again. Without trying she could see Jack's fever-glazed skin, his reddened eyes, his Air Force-trim dark hair drenched in sweat. She could hear his labored breathing; and if Daniel thought the wound was swollen now he should have seen it then!

Rigid as a ramrod until this moment, Daniel sagged a little and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Damn," he said, softly.

"He'll be fine, Daniel, though he's supposed to be convalescing."

"Oh, that's a word Jack just loves," Daniel said, sarcastically. "When was his last shot?"

"A half an hour ago, give or take," Sam answered.

Daniel blinked and shook his head, a visible sign of his brain switching to a new topic.

"Well there is nothing we can do about it but make sure one of us is always with him. Come on, or we'll be late for the ceremony."

Jack O'Neill stood at the top of the line beside the aisle on the men's side of the ceremonial tent, even though it wasn't his place. Daniel was supposed to be there, but Daniel had seemingly slipped back into being habitually late. Jack resisted the urge to sigh. All that exposure to military discipline wasted. Daniel, apparently, was still obstinately civilian about some things.

Still, Daniel was a long way from the dweeb he had been. Battle-hardened, his innocence tarnished and his childlike sense of wonder worn a little. The loss of his wife had broken Daniel's heart. The search for her had sharpened him to a fine edge. He had caught that bottle of medication out of the air without even looking at it. What had happened to the clumsy, scattered, disheveled scientist he had first gone through the Gate with? In his place there was a confident member of a military unit, who could run backwards firing a P90 covering their retreat under heavy fire.

Sometimes, Jack realized, he missed the dweeb.

He knocked some sand off his boots, smoothed an imaginary wrinkle in his desert fatigues and tried not to fidget. He hated ceremonies. The military ones were bad enough. One about to be conducted in a language he didn't even understand was unlikely to be better. Beside him, Teal'c was as still as stone.

A commotion at the tent's main opening announced the arrival of Jackson, Carter and North. Jack wondered if anyone else had ever had the uncanny ability to wear native clothing as naturally as Daniel, unless it was Jillian. As they had been asked to represent Maia's missing parents, they had both made an effort to dress well. Jillian was wearing a scarlet and gold tunic over beige linen pants. She was tall, elegant, and graceful. The tunic whispered over generous curves.

No wonder Daniel had asked for this assignment. They had worried about Liaro reminding Daniel too much of Abydos, taking up with another native and becoming so submerged in the culture he would never come back out. But Jillian would keep him firmly grounded in the SGC, and in the present.

Maybe Jillian could even get Daniel to finally lay down the burden of guilt and sorrow he carried in his soul. That, Jack thought, would be good.

Jack stopped looking at Jillian before it would become obvious and inadvertently let his gaze fall straight onto Carter. At that point he became aware that a lot of the men standing on his side of the tent were staring at Carter.

This wasn't unusual. Men stared at Carter. Sometimes women stared at Carter. Sam was tall and graceful too, though 'elegant' wasn't a word he would use to describe her, not in the conventional sense. She was too strong for it, too determined in purpose and movement to be worried about how she might be perceived by men. Sam didn't need anything to draw the eye. She did it with an almost ethereal beauty and the simple purity of her spirit, the honesty with which she wore her own skin. Maybe Carter couldn't have pulled off the scarlet and gold silk the same way Jillian did. But O'Neill liked her better in the desert fatigues, with the light of a foreign sun bathing her in ocher and ivory and gold; and he had no doubt that she missed the weight of the P90 in her hands as much he did.

Jack cast a glance around his side of the room and promised himself to ask Daniel how to say "no" in Liaroan. He had a feeling he was about to be offered a whole lot of livestock for a woman he didn't own and never would.

He moved over to make room for Daniel at the head of the line. Daniel stood beside him and folded his arms across his chest - the 'self hug position' Samantha called it, as if it helped him contain everything he kept inside.

From across the aisle, Jillian and Daniel locked eyes for a moment and she smiled softly. Jack leaned over and remarked,

"She always looks at you like the two of you just got out of bed."

Daniel made a small noise that could have been annoyance.

"In this case, we _did_," he answered. "Though your early arrival meant that was about all we did."

Jack gave him a sideways, speculative glance.

"Was that a bite mark on your shoulder?" he asked in the most innocent and mild of voices.

Daniel looked deliberately at the ground and said, "Yes," in one long breath, "The walls of a tent aren't exactly sound proof." Then Jack was speared by steely blue eyes, "Is that a bite mark on yours?"

Jack winced and shifted his weight from foot to foot, frustrated at inadvertently bringing the conversation around to his own problem – the one thing he didn't want discussed.

Okay, fine. Nothing he could do but admit it. On the bright side, Daniel was speaking to him, and was worried about him. A month ago they'd had one of their no-holds-barred, knock down, bloody verbal battles. Daniel had packed, stalked through the Stargate and remained on Liaro ever since. He had rejoined SG-1 only occasionally, when he had been sorely needed. The ice had eventually thawed. Jack couldn't even remember what the argument had been about and he suspected neither did Daniel.

Now things seemed almost normal.

"Yes," he said, warily.

Daniel shared another long look across the aisle with Jillian. She smiled again, in a way that somehow encompassed all of them. But the passion in it was all for Daniel.

"Mine was infinitely more fun than yours," Daniel said, quietly.

Teal'c had the incredible audacity to chuckle; and then to do it again when Jack gave him a look designed to shatter granite. Jack was prevented from giving him a blistering verbal jibe when the sound of horns being blown came from outside. It was echoed at once by a line of men along the back wall of the tent lifting large black crescent horns and raising them to their lips. Two men pulled back the main flaps of the tent and Maia entered.

She was riding on the back of a white camel, dressed in a gown of silver with white thread. With great dignity and a sense of tradition, the camel was made to kneel so she could dismount and then backed out of the tent by its handlers.

Daniel and Jillian came forward, flanked her and walked with her to the front. In the meantime, the Clan's holy man – the Shadri – had entered from a side opening and taken his place at the head of the aisle. There was an empty chair behind him that should have held Maia's grandfather, but he was far too ill to attend. Daniel, Maia and Jillian bowed their heads as the Shadri raised his hands and began intoning a prayer over them. Jack glanced around furtively at the crowd, but they were all likewise engaged in keeping their heads down, lips moving silently along with the prayer. He rocked on his heels a bit and then his glance fell on Sam. She was looking at him, a bit amused, as if she knew he wouldn't be paying attention. He winked at her and her smile lit the tent.

The ceremony continued in a language that even Jack had to admit was melodious and easy on the ear. Daniel and Jillian seemed to handle their parts of it properly. Jack wondered if the pair of archaeologists had a clue how they appeared to the assembled natives – tall, almost god-like compared to the small and compact people of this desert. They had both grown up as awkward science geeks – the word still made the muscles in Daniel's jaw ripple. It had taken them a long time to mature, for the long hours in the gym at the base to sculpt them into the people they were now, for their brilliance to find a home where it was cherished and respected, and - for Daniel- the confidence of his bizarre convictions to finally bear fruit.

The Shadri launched into a long dissertation and Jack stifled an urge to yawn. He was trying to ignore the itch on the bottom of his foot when Daniel suddenly began speaking much too urgently for it to be part of a script.

Jack came instantly alert. He felt Teal'c, who had never really relaxed, come to even greater attention. They both had seen Daniel arguing in multiple languages. They didn't need to know the words to know something had taken their team mate by surprise. His body language and the way he appeared to concentrate on his words, looking inward, said it all. He stammered at times, as if his tongue had gotten ahead of his thoughts. His heavy brows furrowed together in concentration, or perhaps frustration, as he carefully chose his words. A deep V had formed on his forehead. Several times Jillian interjected the words for which Daniel seemed to be searching; but even her expression was one of perplexity, disbelief and dawning comprehension.

Jack caught Sam's eye again and she wasn't smiling now. Something was up. They all knew it.

"Head's up, kids," he muttered, almost to himself, as he reached for a P90 that wasn't there.

The discussion continued in a spirited manner for quite some time. Daniel's agitation grew. His speech became clearer, more emphatic until finally Jillian reached across Maia and put her hand on his arm. Even from his spot on the sidelines, Jack could see the bones in her fingers standing out as she squeezed. The Shadri made a sudden chopping motion with his hands and loudly said a single word, "Tah-KOR!" He whirled with a flurry of robes and vanished out the side of the tent, his attendants all but tripping over their robes to follow.

Daniel turned abruptly on his heels and stalked out the main entrance. Jack followed him immediately, Teal'c close behind. Jillian, Maia and Sam made up the rest of the group all chasing after Daniel.

Daniel got as far as the tents at the far edge of the encampment and stopped in a patch of shade. His hands rested on his hips. His legs were braced and his eyes were staring at the ground. His posture reeked of impatience, stiff, all tense muscle and furrowed brow.

Jack slowed and approached him the way one would approach a wounded lion. The rest of the group stopped behind Jack. Even Jillian hung back.

"You, uh, want to tell us what that was about, unless an argument is the customary way to end that particular ceremony?"

Daniel glanced at Maia, who looked miserable. His agitation dissolved in the face of her distress. The riptide of his temper rarely caught the innocent.

"It wasn't an argument, exactly," he paused, sighed, ordered his thoughts and then glanced at Jillian. "The Bak'ri weren't entirely honestly with Jillian and me about this role as her stand-in parents, and they didn't tell us all there is to this ceremony."

Maia pushed forward. The tiny bells woven into her hair sang when she moved. Heavy bracelets clinked together. She was small, like all her people, delicate as an elf. Her manner was tentative and cautious as a fawn, but there was a determination in the way she moved that Jack liked. She looked up at Daniel with wide brown eyes, so much shorter than he that she had to tilt her head back to see into his eyes.

"Daniel, I am sorry. They did not tell you. I was not told that you did not know," it was heavily accented and hesitant, but it was English. Then she babbled at him rapidly in her own language until he put his hands on her forearms and said,

"Maia, Maia! It wasn't your fault. No one blames you."

Jack was still apprehensive but at least he was starting to understand. If Daniel had a deity it was Truth. Apparently, the Bak'ri had not been entirely Truthful with Daniel and that was guaranteed to set him off. The man could sit for days and negotiate a peace treaty, sometimes in a language he barely understood, with a patience Jack would never understand. Lie to him and Daniel went off like a Roman candle.

But he would rein in his reaction if it was causing someone else distress.

The wound on his neck had started to throb and Jack suspected his blood pressure was rising. Ignoring it, he said, "What's going on?"

Maia turned to face them all, keeping Daniel at her back for support. She addressed them in her own language, passionately, and Daniel translated. His voice was quiet and even, though his own personal frustration still glittered in his eyes.

"She says that her grandfather has taught her the history of the People of the Crucible…how they have survived with the help of the Covenant with their gods, through feast and famine…how the people must continue and the burden falls on their lineage to do that… and now it falls on her," he paused when she did and placed his hands on her shoulders comfortingly

Tears rose in Maia's eyes but did not fall. She began again and Daniel echoed her,

"She says she loves her grandfather, worships him more than she does the gods. He has given her the dream, the desire to help her people. She understands her place in their culture and in their religion. But she is scared and doesn't know how to do this without him… She begs us for our help and she's apologizing again that Jillian and I didn't fully understand…..She says she knows this is not our world and not our trouble, and that if it will anger our gods, she understands," Daniel stopped then and spoke to her. From somewhere just behind Jack, Jillian also spoke in the native Bak'ri and there was no mistaking the compassion in her voice.

Whatever they said must have soothed the little desert princess because she smiled a little and wiped away her tears.

Moved and unwilling to show it, Jack finally said, "Okay, so what does she need our help with?"

Daniel lifted both eyebrows. "_Our_ help?" he asked.

Jack shrugged and regretted it when pain lanced down his arm and made him wince. Covering quickly he said, "Sure. We're on stand down. We can pretty much go where we want. Teal'c? Carter?"

"I'm not doing anything," Sam said.

"Nor am I," Teal'c intoned.

"See? Face it. You're stuck with us. So what's the problem?"

Daniel knew when to argue and, more importantly, when he really didn't want to. He drew a very long breath and then said, "Maia has to prove she is the true heir to the line by traveling to the Temple of Theroc and being greeted by the gods that reside in the Sacred Stones. Once she activates the stones, she will be proven as …," he paused and switched to Bak'ri. There was a lilt of question in the way he said it and Maia nodded. He went on "One who can summon the Crown of Victory. As her 'parents', it's up to us to get her there safely and back."

Jack had now been immersed in enough foreign cultures to _not _react right away. "And they just told you this during the ceremony?"

"Yes," Daniel answered.

Okay, O'Neill thought, that would make Daniel mad too – all that time away from the ruins and what he had come here to accomplish. A morning spent away for a small ceremony was one thing. A backpacking adventure was not what Daniel had signed up for.

"So how do these gods greet her, exactly?" He asked, with all the control he could manage. Jack was jumpy whenever anyone mentioned 'gods.'

"By changing color," Daniel explained.

Jack blinked, waited and then couldn't help repeating it with just a little hesitation, "The rocks change color for the true heir to the line of the Bak'ri?"

"Yes," Daniel said, bluntly, "and they sing."

Carter spoke up,"It could be possible, sir."

Jack turned slowly. He always had to look slowly at Samantha. The risk of drowning in those huge eyes was just too great. Besides, whatever she might say next was likely to burn out a few more of his brain cells.

"Do I want to know?"

"The Bak'ri have shown to have certain ESP-like abilities. Tests on Maia show that she has brain waves of a particular frequency and intensity, more than the rest of her people. She probably comes by it genetically. She might be able to affect any electromagnetic energy the crystals in the stones are producing. "

"And it's not un known for rocks to produce sounds similar to music,"Daniel added. "The Ringing Rocks in Pennsylvania sound like bells."

"As well as the rock ranges in Australia and in England," Jillian said, "They are sometimes called sonorous or lithophonic rocks."

Jack looked at Jillian, baffled, "How do you know that? I thought you and Daniel were archaeologists."

Jillian shrugged, "Geology is kind of a hobby."

"So your hobby is another science?"

Daniel and Jillian both nodded innocently. Jack looked at them incredulous.

"Have you ever heard of stamp collecting? Fishing? Those are hobbies," he said.

"Both things required of Maia are scientifically explainable," Sam interjected quickly, "To the Bak'ri, that would appear mystical, a sign from their gods."

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Daniel quoted.

"Arthur C. Clark, sir," Sam supplied and when Jack just continued to stare, "He was a science fiction writer. He's the one who said that, originally"

Jack rubbed his eyes and felt the burning in his neck and shoulder increase. Why was it everything Sam said always sound like it made perfect sense to her when it was gibberish to him? She and Daniel were bad enough; and now there were three of them making him crazy.

He looked at Daniel again, "Okay, so part of your parental duties are to take Maia to this Temple and let her talk to the color-changing bell rocks. So where is this Temple?"

Daniel turned and made a sweeping gesture with his arm at the mountains towering over the ruined city behind them. The stony peaks glistened in the sun. Wispy clouds teased the highest ones.

"Up there," he said, "_Way_ up there. According to their sacred texts, the god Theroc had the temple built in a hanging valley just below the Peak of Anom."

Jack looked up, and up … and up. He let out a long, slow whistle of admiration for the sheer imposing majesty they presented.

"And the Peak of Anom is….?"

Daniel shifted. "The,uh… The one with the little clouds around it. That tall one right there."

Jack shifted and then said, "Sure, why not? So what is at stake if we don't take her?"

"Only after Maia has completed this task can she be given the crown of the Bak'ri – the Magnallia Cor…."

"The Crown of Stone," Jillian interjected. Daniel nodded and went on.

"Then she can marry the heir of opposing Clan, the Un'ri, and bring peace to this valley. If this Clan has no true heir, the Un'ri will declare war," Daniel's brow furrowed again and he closed his eyes as if his head was beginning to hurt. Jack understood.

"And this would be bad, "Jack guessed.

"The Clans are pretty evenly matched when it comes to a defense," Daniel answered, "That is all that has kept the peace so far. If the Bak'ri have no true heir, the Un'ri will see that as a sign from the gods that their line is finished and take it upon themselves to wipe them out. Of course this is based mostly on the fact that they are trying very hard to survive themselves. Their heir has only a tenuous hold on the title."

"Why?" O'Neill asked, as if he really didn't want to know but knew he had to find out.

"The current heir is the First's brother's wife's brother's grandson."

Jack looked away for a moment and then gave up trying to work that out.

"Did he do this rock-singing thing?"

"Apparently yes, last year. The Bak'ri Shadri…"

"That guy you were just in there having the shouting match with."

"I wasn't shouting," Daniel protested.

"Oh you were shouting," Jack insisted.

"Okay, fine! I was shouting," Daniel said with a tiny spark of temper," But yes, that guy, he witnessed the singing rocks."

Maia still looked distressed, frail and fragile. Jack shifted. He was beginning to feel some of Daniel's annoyance. Acting as mountain guides didn't exactly fulfill the primary mission of Sg-1, and Daniel actively hated the idea of leaving an important archaeological dig site.

On the other hand, they _were_ off active duty for a while; and pretty much free to pick what they wanted to do. Daniel claimed they were getting quite a lot of valuable information about the former Goa'uld occupation of this planet. Keeping relations friendly certainly couldn't hurt.

"Okay," Jack said, "So it's a hike up a mountain. Piece of cake. We could use the exercise." Privately he wondered how Maia was going to make it out of camp much less up a mountain, but hell, they could carry her if it came to that. Teal'c probably wouldn't even notice the additional weight.

Daniel looked down at the ground for a moment. When he looked back up, he didn't make eye contact. Jack got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Daniel?" His voice was apprehensive and he drew the word out in a long warning tone.

"There's a little more," he admitted.

Jack groaned and looked up at the sky for a moment. "Of _course,"_ he said,"There's _always _more."

Daniel looked at Jack over the rim of his glasses.

"We have to take a member of the Un'ri with us, so they can verify that she really does talk to the crystals."

"So another one of the Hobbits has to come with us?" Jack asked, "Anyone else? A couple of dwarves? An elf? Some giant Eye in the Sky we have to avoid?"

"Jack," Irritation tinted Daniel's voice again. "You don't have to agree with this or even understand it, but we should respect it."

Jack frowned at him. "I don't agree with or even understand the Goa'uld! Do I have to respect them?"

They stared each other down then, both expressions full of irritation and frustration. Teal'c fixed his eyes on the sky and looked patient. Sam and Jillian exchanged glances and looked resigned.

"That's… that's different and you know it!" Daniel snapped.

"HOW?" Jack demanded.

Daniel's fire cracker temper seized him once again. His stammer became more pronounced as his brain and vocal cords struggled to give voice to what was crystal clear for someone with his strong moral compass.

"It-It-It's like…. like consenting adults," he rushed the last part when he finally thought of an analogy O'Neill might understand, "You have to respect the right to privacy of two people who want to be alone together. But if one of them is being raped you intervene! God, Jack! I know you are not…. _not _really this dense." Daniel's hands clenched into fists at his side for a moment and then relaxed again.

Jack started to continue the debate and then realized both Jillian and Samantha were glaring at him, hard. He decided a strategic withdrawal was in his best interests.

"Okay," he said, softly. He watched to see if his calmer tone would cause Jackson to relax. Ever the pacifist at heart, Daniel took his glasses off for a moment and rubbed his eyes.

"God, Jack," he repeated, tiredly. Sam, Jillian and Teal'c relaxed. Like always, the fire cracker had flared, snapped and crackled and burned out.

O'Neill rocked on his heels for a moment.

"So we escort the Hobbits to the Temple, Maia will do her thing and we'll come back," Jack liked summaries. He loved the bottom line, the simpler the better.

Daniel put his glasses back on but looked over the rim. "Annnnd," he drew out slowly.

"There's an 'and?" Jack asked with some alarm. Beside him Teal'c stirred, which made Jack even more alarmed. He had learned to trust Teal'c instincts. They both heard something in Daniel's voice.

"Well, yes," Daniel said, "The mountains aren't actually a 'piece of cake.' The way to a temple of this importance is probably well marked, and the Un'ri just went there to confirm their heir. But the Un'ri and the Bak'ri both avoid the mountains whenever possible. There are numerous wild animals, as well as the Shunsh'ri."

Maia made a hissing sound and uttered a word no one needed translated.

"The Shunsh'ri?" Sam asked.

"It translates as the Wild Ones', or more literally as 'the People of the Wild'," Jillian spoke up finally, "Both the Un'ri and the Bak'ri fear them. From what Daniel has managed to glean from old texts and conversation they guard their territory with considerable zest."

Jack considered that and then said, with quiet sarcasm," Oh, so there are orcs too."

Teal'c struggled not to look amused, especially when Daniel gave them both another frustrated glare. Sometimes the scientist was just too easy to provoke.

The Colonel regarded Daniel with an expression of infinite patience now, silent.

"Jack?"

"I'm waiting," O'Neill said.

"For?"

"The next 'and'."

"Oh!" Daniel said, comprehension dawning. He concentrated, blinked and then went on, "I think that's it."

"Well thank God for the little things," Jack said.

"So, we're all going?" Daniel asked.

He looked at Jillian, who smiled at him. "Of course. I don't have much choice actually. I'm her 'mother'. The dig will still be here in a few days and everyone on it is a professional. If they find something of value they will leave it for us."

"I, too, will help Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, and there was just no arguing with him. "As Major Carter pointed out, we are not busy."

Jack sighed and seemed to deflate. He shot Teal'c a look. "I think you meant to say 'You have my sword.'"

"I do not carry a sword," Teal'c replied, as if it were obvious.

"So how about your ax or your bow?"

Teal'c lifted an eyebrow and looked down at O'Neill, who shrugged innocently

Maia turned and looked at Daniel, in utter confusion, "You will all help then?"

Daniel's resistance and the last of his irritation melted like a sand castle at high tide.

He had sworn a vow. It had been in the interest of diplomatic ties, but it was a vow nonetheless. He had to do this. But he didn't have to do it alone. He wasn't sure at the moment why he had ever thought he would. Love he didn't know how to show spread out from the center of his being. It wasn't like the love he had felt for Sha're, or even the People of Abydos as a whole. It wasn't like the feelings he was beginning to have for Jillian, but it was love nevertheless – friendship, camaraderie, loyalty, respect, admiration, the ability to fill in each other's blank spaces.

Daniel looked at each of his teammates in turn, gratitude in his eyes, thanking them the only way he knew how.

"Yes. We're all going to help." He said something in Bak'ri that Jack figured was the same thing.

Maia began to stammer wildly in her own language again, but this time it was interspersed with enough English for them to understand her gratitude.

"Then we leave as soon as the rest of the Hob..." he stopped when he saw the look Daniel gave him, "As soon as our guests from the Un'ri get here and can be ready. Daniel I assume you have a map to this place."

"No, but I was just told the directions are in the Book of Theroc," He looked at Jillian, "Can you help me with the text?"

"Of course," she nodded.

By some unspoken understanding, Jack and Daniel began to move off, side by side, making plans. Teal'c moved easily beside them, listening carefully so he would be able to anticipate their needs, ever vigilant. He would have his own questions about the dangers they would be facing.

Maia sighed. "I envy you your world, sisters," she said.

Sam and Jillian exchanged a glance.

"Why?" Sam asked.

Maia gestured after Jack, Teal'c and Daniel. Her eyes were wistful and sad. "Your world has those men in it," she said, simply.


	3. Chapter 3

'_Those_ men.' Jillian reflected on the words later, while readying hiking packs for the journey. She had not said 'men _like_ those.' She had meant Jack, Daniel and Teal'c; and now Jillian couldn't help but wonder if she meant one of those men specifically. Probably not Teal'c, most of the Bak'ri were terrified of him. Daniel and she had been sharing a tent since his arrival. But Maia had spent a considerable amount of time on Earth, in the company of Colonel O'Neill.

Maia may have developed some kind of father-figure crush on Jack O'Neill that could complicate her life. She was promised to a man who held considerable power in this culture; and there could be no changing that. Jillian glanced over at Daniel and decided not to mention it to him. Daniel was touchy on the subject of Maia's upcoming marriage, and she had no idea why.

Daniel was lying on his side in what amounted to their bed – a nest of pillows and linens inside a frame that could be broken down quickly when the Clan moved. An old book was open in front of him; its cover was leather and tanned to golden smoothness. The pages were made from reed paper, similar to papyrus. The edges had frayed over time but the text was preserved. It was not large as some books went, perhaps ten by ten and as many inches thick.

Daniel adored it, as he adored all books, though there had been little time to read it. He was propped up on one elbow, occasionally resting his head on his curled fist as he read. His heavy brows were knitted together in concentration, furrowing an upside down V into his forehead. One finger moved across the text, from top to bottom along the neatly printed columns of text. His lips moved as he spoke the ancient language to himself. He had switched to his desert fatigues and the tan shirt that clung to him like a second skin, though his feet were still bare. He had showered earlier, washing away the dust and sand and salt sweat of the day in the miraculous solar technology of the Bak'ri. Then he had roughly toweled his hair and let it dry that way, disordered. It would be silky if she touched it, tousled and soft.

Jillian's heart did a slow somersault, while her body knew an exaltation of sudden desire – for the warmth of his soul, his long, long legs, the way the strong curve of his back felt under her hands. At no point had she ever thought a man like Daniel Jackson would be interested in her. She had grown up lost in books and in ancient worlds, moved from one place to another by her windowed father – a US Ambassador. They had moved from Europe to China to India to Northern Africa, with no real chance to make friends. She had learned to rely on the friends she made in books – Tolkien's Elves, Dragonlance, Wheel of Time and other science fiction. For Jillian, only the stars ever remained constant. Too tall, too awkward, too smart, uninterested in the latest hot 'boy band' or clothes or makeup, she had defined the words 'science geek' for most of her life. Jillian had always been much more interested in history than in the present.

Three years of braces on her teeth, followed by a yearlong affair with a Frenchman, who taught history at the University and was fifteen years her senior, had helped. Lucien had taught her a lot about the ways of men and women, before he had gone back to his wife. He had been the first one to tell her she was beautiful, the first one who made her see someone different and desirable when she looked in a mirror. He had dragged her out of baggy sweat shirts and taught her how to wear a pair of jeans in a way that made men stop and stare. He had taught her the techniques of physical intimacy, awakened feelings in her body she hadn't known were possible and shown her things that drove men wild.

But it was Daniel who had taught her the art of making love.

Daniel must have felt her staring at him because he looked up with curiosity on his face.

"Have you eaten?" she asked, looking down at the backpack so he wouldn't see the desire in her eyes.

"No," he said, distractedly and returned his attention to the book."Listen to this:

…_And so it came to pass that the God of all Gods Theroc – glory be his holy name – brought a mighty legion against Goh-ul…."_

"The Goa'uld who brought the original people here," Jillian said.

As they had worked on the excavation and translations, Jillian had developed the hypothesis that this particular Goa'uld had been, literally, Ghoul. He was described as a demon god; a shape-shifter that could assume the guise of an animal, especially the hyena. It was said to lure people into the desert to kill and devour them. It was further claimed to prey on the young, rob graves, drink blood, and eat the dead. It would then take on the form of the one eaten. For the SGC archaeological team, it had seemed too obvious that this had been a Goa'uld, the one who had been reborn on Liaro as Goh-ul.

"Yes," Daniel said, and then went on, "_The many of Theroc destroyed the minions of Goh-ul and Theroc gathered the People unto him. Theroc then gave the command to his faithful servant Anom to build a Temple as there was nonesuch in the land. And the building commenced over many days and many years. Unbowed, for he feared not the god, Anom came before him to present the Temple upon its completion._

"_Did you create this design?" Theroc asked when he saw the creation his People had made in his honor._

"_Yes," Anom replied, and the god spoke, _

"_Then let this Temple be a symbol of peace and replace the battlefields; let those with true hearts come before me in this place and be recognized and I will give them dominion and power over Man and …. And Creatures not Man," _Daniel paused and shook his head as if unsatisfied with that translation. Jillian smiled at him in sympathy, then came to sit with him in the nest of pillows. She slipped in between him and the book, like a child listening to a bedtime story, resting her head against his forearm. She could feel his heartbeat against her back as she molded her body to his. She laid her hand on his wrist, where the soft, fine hairs of his arm began and sparkled in the light.

With casual intimacy Daniel draped his leg over hers, tangling them together; but he continued reading as if his body had reacted automatically to her presence while his thoughts were elsewhere, "_Let the true heirs come unto me and be recognized and this will be a sign unto them – the rocks themselves will sing and dance in their presence…and then the People came forth and the stones and rocks began to dance in the Presence of Anom and he became the First of the People of the Sun."_

"The Un'ri," Jillian said

He nodded. Daniel read the way he always did, as if half his brain was looking for the meaning and nuance behind the words, the truth behind the myth. "Yes …._and it was given unto him the Crown of Crystal._

"_And then Theroc brought forth Adar, the brother of Anom and the rocks and stones began to dance and sing in his Presence and Adar was made the First of the People of the Crucible and unto him was given the Crown of Stone …._ – the Bak'ri obviously …_and then the sister of Anom and Adar was brought forth and became the First of the People of the Wild Place, because the stones and rocks also sang and danced in her Presence and the Crown of Iron was placed upon her head._

"Jillian, look at this word," he shifted the book and ran a long finger under the last word he had read.

"I don't have my glasses," she said, though he knew she only used them for small print and intense reading conditions.

She squinted at it briefly.

"_Shensh'ri," _she repeated, "It could almost be the Shunsh'ri."

"I think it is the same People," Daniel said,"They've been separated for so long from the people who live in the valley they developed along a different line. Okay, listen: _And then long days passed and long years and ….._ Okay, then we get into the lineage of Anom and Adar and the sister, who never gets a name by the way."

"Like the section of the Bible that has all the 'begats'?"

"Yes," Daniel said, absently, as he turned the heavy yellowed pages with infinite care.

"Daniel, are you aware that your stomach is growling?" Jillian asked, shifting to press closer to him.

"Is it?"

"Yes!"

"All right, we'll get something in a minute. I want you to hear the rest of this. _Then it came to pass that the Great God Camag returned from the Heavens in a blaze of light and seeing what Theroc had done was angered. Then there was a great war in Heaven and the Gods Theroc and the God Camag destroyed one another in fire that rained from the sky and lightning that tore the heavens and the ground shook and the sky turned red with blood. The Lesser Gods," _he paused and frowned, once again unhappy with that translation. He showed Jillian the word.

"Under Gods," she said, "or below. In this case lesser or lower makes the most sense."

Daniel nodded, appeased by her agreement. He went on,_ "of Camag were driven away by the Lesser Gods of Theroc. The Lesser Gods mourned for many days and many years and it was in this time that they gave the People the Crown of Victory, so that they would never fear and would be protected for eternity."_

Daniel stopped reading and looked into her eyes. His eyes were like the Star Gate, like quick silver poured over a mirror, eyes she could step into and be lost forever. His fingers touched her cheek, brushed back the fringe of bangs from her eyes, smoothed over the top of her head and absently ran down the length of her pony tail. He was still distracted; his touch automatic, as if his thoughts were still far away in an ancient world and he needed something to anchor him to his own time.

"I think we may have just read a description of a war between an early Tok'ra and a Goa'uld. Theroc doesn't treat the humans as slaves and there is nothing in this book to indicate he wasn't much beloved by the people."

"Then this Goa'uld Camag comes and tries to take them over and in preventing that, Theroc kills Camag but dies himself," Jillian finished.

"Then the 'gods' who were left made something that has kept the Goa'uld from ever returning, which should make Command really happy, if we can find it, " Daniel's fingers had wandered to the skin of her shoulder, below the strap of her tank top and down her arm. From the faraway look in his eyes, Jillian knew that his thoughts were still occupied elsewhere. "I just can't figure out who these gods were on Earth. Their names aren't familiar and I can't even find anything they may have been derived from."

"I think for the purpose of Maia's journey, we don't need to know that right now, "Jillian said, "Those answers may still be waiting for us in the ruins." She rolled over to face him, reached up and touched his face. "Daniel," she said, "Hey. Come back."

He was the only person she knew who could literally get lost in thought.

Daniel took off his glasses and turned enough to put them on a basket behind his head. He blinked for a moment to refocus, but her face was close enough for him to see it clearly. Jillian smiled quietly to herself. There was usually only one reason Daniel removed his glasses when they were alone. His remarkable eyes, fringed with the longest lashes she had ever seen, shimmered.

As if to prove her correct Daniel lowered his head enough to bring his mouth down on hers. She met him with quiet welcome, lips touching like two halves of the same secret. They broke apart to the unhappy rumble of his empty stomach and she laughed while he looked sheepish.

"You have Maslow's hierarchy of needs all mixed up, Daniel Jackson," she said.

"How so?"

She moved so that her weight pushed him, willingly, over onto his back and leveraged up so she could look into his face.

"Well for one thing you've replaced the entire bottom section of the pyramid with what should be the top section – the search for knowledge and truth," she began.

He looked amused, a small smile played at the corners of his generous mouth. "I'd be willing to agree with that."

"And," she trailed a hand down his arm, over the deeply tanned skin stretched over muscle and bone, his forearm built to a mass she couldn't encompass with one hand. "You've somehow placed sex ahead of food."

He reached and pulled the band from her pony tail so that her hair spilled free. His fingers threaded through it, watching the play of light on the chestnut silk. Then he ran his hand over this hand over the smooth skin of her shoulder and arm, letting the heel of his palm brush over the swell of her breast, down the curve of her waist and hip.

"Well," his voice had gone sultry and low," Maslow would have come to an entirely different conclusion if he had ever been in bed with you. Clearly this threw off his baseline."

Jillian's laughter was like wind chimes on a warm summer night. She moved so that she was kneeling.

"Okay, come on. Up," she said.

His eyes twinkled. "Is there a particular part of my anatomy you're addressing?"

"_Daniel!" _ She tried to sound scandalized and managed only to laugh again. She tossed a pillow at him half heartedly and he deflected it with reflexes honed in battle. His grin was soft, gentle, and still delightfully full of mischief. He had learned a lot from her in the last year about relaxing and not being so easily scandalized.

"All of you," she said, finally. She stood in one fluid movement and offered him her hand. "There is probably food left from the ceremony feast."

"Left? It's probably still going on," Daniel remarked. "It will probably still be going on days after we leave for the Temple."

But he reached for her hand anyway and stood. A pulse beat in his finger tips and she could feel the calluses on his palm – all the ones an archaeologist should have and some that he shouldn't. Those he had gotten on the firing range.

He got the jackets that went with their desert fatigues. The sun was setting now and the desert could be cold at night. They left the tent into a world turned crimson and gold, with a soft breeze that tossed sand gently around the base of the tents. Daniel put his arm around her shoulders and they settled into an easy pace across the encampment.

"I have a question about our little hike up the mountain," she said, turning her head so she could look up at him.

"And that is?"

"Are you going to survive this trip with Jack O'Neill?"

Daniel was silent for a little bit and then he said, calmly, "The truth is, Jillian, we'll all probably survive this trip _because_ of Jack O'Neill."


	4. Chapter 4

The cascading sound of multiple trumpets woke them early the next morning. At least it woke Daniel. There was a blurry figure wearing desert tan fatigues moving around the tent and humming. He reached for his glasses but found the basket on which they normally rested was on its side. The horns sounded again, louder and closer and his head throbbed in response.

"Jillian, have you seen my glasses?" he asked.

"On the basket?"

"It's knocked over," he said.

From outside drums joined the horns and Daniel flung himself onto his back and dug the heels of his palm into his aching eyes.

"Oh my _god, _can they stop doing that! Why do we need horns and drums at this hour of the morning?"

"I think our honored guests from the Un'ri are arriving," Jillian surmised, "and it's past noon."

He sat straight up and when the room swam dizzily, he instantly regretted it.

"How much did I drink last night?" he asked.

"Not that much," there was a nonchalant shrug in her voice, then a sexy smile, "It didn't affect your performance."

"_What _did I drink last night?" He wanted to know.

"Just the wine," she paused, "Jack had the beer."

He groaned and put an arm over his eyes to block the blurry room and blinding light.

"God help him. Did someone tell him they also use the beer to lubricate their machinery? So we went to the feast," he said, slowly, piecing together the night before,"we ate, we drank?"

"We drank," Jillian said, "Teal'c was the designated 'walker.'"

"Designated walker?" Daniel asked.

"Someone had to make sure that we all got safely back to our tents; oh, and that Jack had his shot."

"Okay," he said, "But as I understand this, you brought me back here and took advantage of my less than sober condition to have your way with me."

"No, it was the other way around," she teased, "But neither of us protested."

"Hmm," he said, "As I recall we didn't at all. Food, drink, sex. We must have made Maslow happy."

He rolled over on his side to search in the linens for his glasses. "When we get back from this trip into the mountains, can we go back home for a little bit?"

She was startled. "Home? To the SGC?"

"No, my place or yours."

She watched him tossing pillows out of the way, in the hope of finding his glasses.

"Missing my satin sheets, Jackson?" she asked, lightly.

"No," he drawled, briefly giving up the search to tenderly touch his own cheek and work his jaw back and forth a little. "I miss being loud. I think I bit through my tongue last night."

Jillian laughed. She laughed a lot, a cleansing prayer that had the power of angels in it. It bubbled out of her like champagne from a newly uncorked bottle. She didn't live in his past and she didn't let him live there any more either.

"I've been trying to avoid biting the same place on your shoulder," she commented.

He looked in the general direction of the blurry tan figure. With wicked solemnity he said, "Thank you for that. It might be a bit awkward to explain to Fraser. Of course, last night, you weren't in any position to reach my shoulder."

Jillian's natural sensuality shown in her being. He couldn't see it at the moment, not without his glasses, but he could sense it.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Wie drachenfutter," he muttered. Sometimes there wasn't a word in English to say what he wanted.

"Dragon fodder? Weil Sie eher wie ein katzenjammer schauen."

She sat down in the mix of linens and pillows, made a small startled sound and shifted her weight immediately. He looked up to find her pulling his glasses out from under her leg. She handed them to him and he slipped them on gratefully, bringing the room at least into focus even if the light still stabbed him like needles.

He managed to focus on her face and was instantly struck by her beauty. It blocked out the sun, the noise, the pounding in his head. Her tone was light, teasing. Her body language was relaxed and casual. But naked yearning lurked in her forest-dark eyes.

"Sie sind eine schöne frau," he murmured.

She smiled and he temporarily forgot how to breathe.

"Two days in a row you wake up and call me beautiful," she said, "You're on a roll, Jackson."

He sat up, stretching stiff muscles. "Well I can say it in at least twenty three Earth languages and a decent handful of off worlds ones, so we're good for another few weeks."

"Can we skip the Goa'uld?" she asked.

"Wouldn't we all love to skip the Goa'uld," he observed, bitterly. He swung his legs around and stood, "We should go see what all the fuss is about. It will probably affect us."

While Daniel showered and dressed, Jillian went to join SG-1. He found them gathered together behind his tent, along the main road that came into the camp and led to the ceremonial tent. Finding Sam already standing at O'Neill's right shoulder, Daniel took a position on his left, with Teal'c almost directly behind them. Jack was slouching a little, favoring his bad knee. Daniel took a moment to stealthily inspect the wound on Jack's neck and was rather displeased to discover that it didn't look any better. He snapped tinted lenses over his glasses and then braced his feet apart and crossed his arms across his chest. They always seemed to flank Jack that way, Jillian had noticed, giving him the center with Sam and Teal'c protecting his right side, where his bad knee and now his poisoned wound made him slightly weaker.

Though "weak" was not a word Jillian would ever apply to Jack O'Neill.

Four men blowing on horns were coming towards them at the forefront of a procession that included drummers and a single man in bright robes leading a black camel. The camel was heavily adorned in tassels and braids, an elaborate saddle bore a single rider. A young Liaroan man rode in the saddle, bronze skin, black hair untamed from the desert winds and white teeth sparkling in the sun. He was small in stature like all Liaroans but of unmistakable presence. He was wearing only sandals and a pair of royal blue leggings that shone like silk. His arms were adorned with gold bracelets. A coronet encircled his head that appeared to be carved from diamonds, or at least from the equivalent precious stone of Liaro.

"Magnallia Dek," Daniel murmured.

Jack leaned closer to him, without taking his eyes off the young godling riding towards them on his camel. "Bless you" he said.

"The Crown of Crystal," Daniel still sounded like he was talking to himself. But then he focused on Jack, "The symbol of the leadership of the Un'ri."

Understanding dawned on the Colonel's face. "Ah, so that the brother's uncle's mother's….."

Daniel interrupted, "The First's brother's wife's brother's grandson. His name is Nirok."

They kept their voices low, but O'Neill knew every member of his team – and Jillian – was listening closely.

"Yeah, him," Jack said, "What's he doing here?"

"The Un'ri said they would be sending a witness. Apparently this is it," Daniel murmured.

Jack tensed. He knew every nuance of every tone of voice used by his team, even Teal'c who barely said a word. Daniel was offering Jack information, but something was bothering him. Daniel was talking, but a part of his brain was working out a puzzle.

"What?" Jack asked, warily.

Daniel frowned but knew Jack would listen to him work out his thoughts. "Nirok can't be the witness. He..he..he already made the journey and has been confirmed as heir…." 

"When the rocks changed color for him," Jack filled in, still sounding skeptical.

"Yes," Daniel turned so he could peer at Jack over the top of his glasses. "So he can't be in the Temple with Maia or it will change the conditions of her test."

"You're thinking like a scientist aren't you?" Jack asked.

Daniel looked at Jack as if the Colonel had just announced that deserts had sand; eyebrows rose, mystified.

"Never mind," Jack said. "So who is the witness? The guy leading the camel?"

Daniel shrugged eloquently. "I don't see anyone else do you?" It seemed that Jackson was about to say something else when his attention was caught by the prince on the camel. His expression deepened to a scowl that seemed to border on hostility. Jack's senses tingled again.

Jack followed Daniel's eyes and found them fixed on the prince, who was now looking with much too much intense enthusiasm at Sam and Jillian.

"Come on, Daniel," Jack murmured, "He's too short for either of them."

Daniel sighed, looked down, braced his feet again and rested his curled fists on his hips. Jack rocked back and forth to stave off his need for motion and action.

"I'm just getting tired of trying to explain that she isn't for sale," he said. "They've progressed to the point that the women have to be willing, and some will hold out to make sure the man they are with is made wealthier before leaving him. In this case, Korufu's substantial ego has made him believe that is what Jillian is trying to do."

"Can't she 'Just say no' like our First Lady suggested?" Jack asked.

"Repeatedly," Daniel responded, "And I don't like the idea that a man who has already been promised to Maia is looking at every woman he passes as if he already owns her."

Jack fought a grin, but not the urge to tease him a little.

"Especially one that is 'yours'?"

"Jillian is out of his league," Daniel said, "I don't care if he is the grandson of the brother of the wife of the brother of the Un'ri's First."

Jack stared at him for a moment as if Daniel was something beyond comprehension.

"How do you do that?" he asked, finally, shaking his head

"Do what?" Daniel asked.

"Nothin'," Jack shrugged.

From behind them Teal'c spoke in a voice dripping with disapproval,

"I agree with Daniel Jackson. His behavior is inappropriate for one who is already betrothed."

Daniel and Jack turned to look at him and Teal'c went on, all but growling, "And I have seen many like him before."

"Where?" Daniel asked.

Teal'c's regard was level and displeased. He growled low in his throat, "He reminds me of the System Lords."

SG-1 traded uneasy looks, speaking without words. There was a certain arrogant sense of self-importance and entitlement that looked familiar, now that Teal'c brought it up.

The odd parade passed them and they fell in with the crowd following along behind. However, when they got to the ceremonial tent, the crowd parted and let them through.

The tent itself was already so packed there was only space for SG-1 to block the exit, standing at the bottom of the main aisle. It at least afforded them an unblocked view. Jillian switched places, ducking behind them to move into place beside Daniel. Jack watched as Daniel put an arm around her shoulders and tucked her under it for a moment. She tilted her head enough to brush her cheek against his. Then he let his arm drop and their fingers entwined lightly, holding hands. O'Neill knew them better than to think it was a simple PDA. Daniel was a master communicator, when his thoughts didn't run ahead of his ability to speak and cause him to stutter. The message that Jillian was under his protection was pretty clear.

Jillian was a crack shot with most pistols, had been in some of the most dangerous places on earth in pursuit of ancient civilizations and was a third degree black belt. If she wasn't able to take care of herself, she wouldn't ever have gotten through the Stargate or been assigned to SG-8. But in this culture having the protection of a tall man who could bench press the combined weight of the general population probably meant more.

Jack turned the entire upper half of his body to regard Carter as surreptitiously as possible. He tried to imagine the look on her face if he tried sending the same message about her. That produced all kinds of other thoughts he really shouldn't have, so he stopped.

Besides, put a P90 in her hands and it would be pretty clear Samantha didn't _need _anyone's protection.

They watched in silence as a long-winded betrothal ceremony commenced that Daniel didn't bother translating. Even he seemed edgy, bored. Military discipline gave O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c the ability to stand without shifting, for long periods of time. Daniel was learning, and could do it if he had to, but at the moment he was fidgeting like a preschooler in church. Jack guessed that the scientist had been too long away from the ruins and the buried secrets they might contain. Finally Jack elbowed him in the ribs.

"What's goin' on?"

"Just reciting the terms of the treaty, who gets what, who has what territory at what time of the year, when Maia and Nirok will live with the Un'ri and when with the Bak'ri."

"Didn't you help negotiate this treaty?"

"I helped with the wording," Daniel shrugged.

At that point in the ceremony Maia was presented with a large black horn, curved like a crescent moon and held by a braided gold rope. She put the rope over her head and let the horn settle on her hip.

"That's the Horn of Salamaria," Jillian said, "It has belonged to the First wives of the Un'ri since the time of Anom."

Then Nirok was presented with a long, curved and lethal-looking blade set in a jeweled handle. Daniel identified it as the Blade of Adar, the heirloom of the Bak'ri.

"I would say Nirok got the better part of that exchange," Teal'c commented and Jack grinned.

The two attendants were then given the care of a box containing the Crown of Stone.

"Well that confirms it," Daniel said, "The attendants are the witnesses. They will be going along."

He swiveled enough to take in Jack's reaction and found the Colonel counting on his fingers.

"Jack?"

"Just as I thought. Five of us, four little short people. I just have one question?"

"Jack," Daniel said, warningly.

But O'Neill was not to be stopped.

"Which one has the Ring?"


	5. Chapter 5

They had marched through the foothills of the mountains on a trail that had little to recommend to hiking enthusiasts. Jack and Daniel had taken point. The "royal couple" and their attendants walked directly behind them followed by Sam and Jillian. Teal'c, staff weapon ever at the ready, had their six.

Mile after mile passed beneath their boots, with stops more frequent than the SGC personnel were used to or needed. Nirok had complained for the first few miles, grumbled for a few more miles after that. He had been greatly displeased with Jack's refusal to bring the camels, and then his refusal to stop long enough to cook a hot lunch. Daniel may not exactly have soothed the prince's ruffled feathers but he had, at least, gotten him to be quiet; and Teal'c had stopped staring at Nirok as if he were a bug Teal'c wanted to smash. Jack had been concerned that Nirok wouldn't speak English. Now he was dismayed that the little man actually could.

Maia was unusually cool and unreceptive towards Nirok, which was a source of concern for Jillian and Daniel. She did not speak to her intended, except to reprimand him for his lack of respect for Jack. It was more and more obvious to Jillian that Maia was nursing a serious crush on the Colonel. That combined with her distaste for Nirok did not bode well for the shaky alliance between the Clans of the valley.

Of course, Nirok seemed utterly uninterested in Maia as well. He had begun several times to engage Carter in conversation, a fact that did not escape Jack's notice.

Jillian's nerves were being jangled by something else too. Perhaps it was only because they were used to it that Carter and Teal'c seemed unaware of the tension between Jack and Daniel. For Jillian it seemed uncomfortably obvious. The two men had not said a word to each other all day, not even when they began their journey up the mountain. Daniel had simply fallen in beside Jack without as much as a glance or acknowledgement of the Colonel's existence. They had then stalked up the trail like two tigers temporarily forced to hunt together.

After nearly an entire day of hiking and hostility, Jillian finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"What is wrong with them?" She moved so that she was walking close enough to Sam to whisper.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"The Colonel and Daniel. You need a chain saw to get through the tension."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes I'm not sure what is worse, when they yell at each other or when they don't talk at all."

"This happens a lot?" Jillian asked.

"Often enough," the casual tone of her voice was somewhat reassuring to Jillian.

Carter suspected that Jack and Daniel must have exchanged some pretty harsh words earlier, no doubt inflicted some verbal wounds that were still healing and they would get over the very next time one of them needed the other to survive.

Sam watched Jack march up the trail ahead of them, alert, confident and assured, betraying nothing of the wounds – physical or emotional – that life had given him. Jack was the kind of man that could make a rebel like Daniel Jackson follow him; a man whose spirit had been obvious to Teal'c; a man she could and did love with a hopeless abandon. Jillian, with characteristic bluntness, interrupted her thoughts before they could lead to ruin.

"If it's just a BDC, should we just get them a tape measure and be done with it?"

"_Jillian!" _Sam whispered sharply as her face flushed a lovely shade of rose and the tops of her ears turned red. She tried to look outraged and succeeded only in looking more embarrassed and amused. She walked a few steps and got her reaction under control, "No, I don't think it would help. That's not what it's about anyway."

Jillian's eye sparkled a bit. "Good, because I've been with Daniel in the Biblical sense and Jack would have his work cut out for him."

"_JILLIAN." _This time Sam's choked whisper was loud enough to make Teal'c notice. With the conditioning of long association, Sam turned to look over his shoulder and smile at him reassuringly. Teal'c lowered his weapon but looked suspicious nevertheless.

Sam turned her attention back to her companion and still failed to look completely outraged.

"Jill, please, I have to work with both those men. One of them is my CO!"

Jillian gave a penetrating sideways glance, "And the other?"

"Is one of my best friends," Sam admitted."I'd defend him with my own life. But it's already difficult enough being the only woman in a four person team. Things…. Happen…."

Jillian herself was the only woman in a five person team but she tilted her head curiously. "Like what kinds of things?"

"Accidental body contact kinds of things," Sam tried to explain, "No one ever means it."

Jillian smiled in a knowing way and commiserated. "Once, on PX8-388 we were trying to reach the Gate under heavy fire. There was an explosion and the Colonel grabbed me to pull me out of the way and his hand wound up firmly over my left breast."

Sam laughed, "Yeah, stuff like that," she paused, considering, and then went on, "We were on a mountain trail a whole lot like this one and there was a landslide. Daniel grabbed me and I pushed him and when we hit the ground I landed on him with both knees."

Jillian lifted a quizzical eyebrow.

"In a delicate place," Sam explained and Jillian, comprehension dawning, said, "Ohhhh."

"And he's begging me in a strangled voice to get off and I'm babbling some stupid apology and as I get up, I slip and catch myself with my hand in, uh…the same place and he, well, screams basically and now I can hear the Colonel yelling for us because he thinks Daniel is hurt; and well Daniel _is _hurt though not in a way that is life threatening unless you consider any future progeny that probably are no longer possible for him."

Jillian was desperately trying not to laugh now.

"So then the Colonel and Teal'c get over the rocks and Daniel is curled up in a fetal position and the Colonel is trying to figure out what's wrong….."

"_Oh gods, Sam, stop," _Jillian choked. She just could _not _start laughing now or she wouldn't be able to stop.

"Daniel said he landed on a rock," Sam went on, "Though of course there wasn't a rock anywhere near him and I think the Colonel only pretended he didn't notice that."

The two women shared a look and then a smile of camaraderie.

Still walking point ahead of them, Daniel had caught the soft music of Jillian's laughter and their murmuring voices, though he couldn't make out anything they were saying.

He glanced at O'Neill and found the same casual stoniness he had encountered all day.

"Jack? I'm..uh…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said."

For a few more steps the only sound was their boots crunching on the gravelly trail and the murmuring voice of Sam and Jillian behind them.

''Sokay," Jack said, finally, "I provoked you."

Daniel gave him another glance and O'Neill went on, "If you had said that to me I'd had knocked you on your ass."

"I _did _say it to you," Daniel said, "Just not the same way; and I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Oh you meant it," Jack said, casually. Before Daniel could protest Jack cut him off, "But you were right, so forget it."

Daniel studied the terrain in front of them intently for a moment; and then, because Jack had asked him to, he forgot it.

"How's your shoulder?" Daniel asked.

"It hurts like hell," Jack admitted, in that same matter of fact voice he used whether announcing the cafeteria special or that the Goa'uld would arrive in two minutes.

"Oh," Daniel responded in the same tone, "And your back? Knee?"

"Oh they're great. I think it's the dry climate. I should consider retiring here."

Their banter may have continued unchecked, but O'Neill stopped abruptly, causing the royal party to nearly collide with him and earning him a withering glare from Nirok. The prince also made a comment in his own language that whipped Daniel's head around to glare at him.

"Do you hear water?" He asked Daniel.

Daniel paused for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, and there's a tree line. Any plant growing in the desert is a sign of a water source somewhere nearby."

"Carter!" Jack barked over his shoulder, "Daniel." He spoke the archaeologist's name in a slightly less rough manner but it retained the air of authority and command nonetheless.

Without any further spoken command, Daniel and Sam walked off together in the direction of the sound. Daniel pulled his Berreta and Sam pulled her P90 from her shoulder. As they disappeared into the brush, O'Neill heard the satisfying sound of both weapons being unsafed.

The stream they found was clear-running and about twenty meters across. It flowed steadily but not particularly fast. Thirty meters from the water's edge, the bank suddenly dropped steeply, the sparse vegetation ended and the ground became hard and gravely.

Sam went to check the water and Daniel knelt to examine the furrows etched into the ground.

"How's the water?" Daniel asked when Sam rejoined him.

"Wet," she answered, "There's fish in it. Wonder if the Colonel brought his fishing pole."

"He'll wish he had," Daniel mused, distractedly, "What do you make of this?"

Sam ran her fingers over the ground, "High water mark," she said, certainly, "Though it's hard to believe that little stream gets up this high."

"Flash flooding in the desert isn't unusual," Daniel said. He glanced up at the endless blue sky. It was starting to darken ever so slightly but was clear and cloudless. He stood, "I don't think it's going to rain, so we should be safe camped here for the night as long as we stay up in the trees, above this line. We can always consult Jack's knee about the chance of precipitation."

Sam grinned at him and they returned to their group to report their findings.

They made camp above the stream. Jack had watched with some consternation and a little amusement as two pavilions were erected by the attendants. Daniel had watched for less than thirty seconds as Maia's attendant, Najah, struggled with her princess' tent and then went to help. Nirok's attendant, Hanif, on the other hand had that tent up and ready to go almost before Daniel moved to assist Najah.

Sam and Jillian shared a look.

"Aren't they nomadic?" Sam whispered.

"Yep," Jillian answered.

"That pavilion isn't that complicated. It's designed to go up and down easily," Sam observed.

"Oh I am positive she knew how to get that up by herself. You don't become an attendant to someone in Maia's position in this culture without being trained in all sorts of things," Jillian answered, "But _all _the women have noticed that Daniel helps even if no one else will. Najah did it to get his attention and it worked."

"She must know that Daniel is with you. It's not like you haven't made it obvious."

Jillian shrugged eloquently. "It's rare but not unheard of for men here to have more than one wife, even a whole host of attendants. It's an honored position."

Sam watched Daniel put the tent up while Najah hung on every word he said.

"The poor man is clueless isn't he?" she observed.

Jillian shrugged, "Completely. Women flirt with Daniel. It happens all the time and he has no idea. It's part of his charm."

Then Jillian's expression changed, like a dark cloud covering the sun. "Besides, he isn't over his wife."

Sam stared at her in surprise. "Jillian," she began but was cut off.

"It's okay. There is part of him that will always belong to her. The best I can hope to do is ease the pain; get him to remember how to have fun." She paused and looked down, "He's getting better."

"Does he talk about her?" Sam wondered.

"Sometimes," Jillian smiled wistfully."Not often. It catches him off guard. If he thinks about it, he just keeps it inside.

"He doesn't talk to us about her, not since she died," Sam observed.

"I think he talks to Jack," Jillian answered. She hesitated and then went on, "Not long after he and I got together I walked into his office and found him with his head down. I thought he was asleep, but he was crying. He let me stay and hold him, but he never told me what it was about. I've always thought it was about Sha're."

She stopped speaking then. Daniel was a very private man, so she wasn't sure how much she should share. The memory was still poignant for her though. He had been so still, his head pillowed on his arms on the desk, that she truly thought he had fallen asleep. She had shut the door and gone to him, touching him lightly on the shoulder.

Daniel had come upright so suddenly he startled her. He had pulled her onto his lap, buried his head against the hollow of her shoulder and simply wept – silently and unmoving, while she stroked his hair. She had taken him back to his quarters after that and stayed with him until he fell asleep.

They had never spoken of it and Jillian didn't push him. Daniel had memories and emotions he kept caged as if they were demons.

"We all think you've been good for him," Sam said.

"I wonder if that is why Hammond has turned a blind eye to us having an extracurricular activity," Jillian said.

It was Sam's turn to shrug. "You're both civilians, here of your own free will. He doesn't want to lose either one of you."

"Well that's nice to know, I guess," she said, "Though he should realize that no relationship in the world would drag Daniel away from the Star Gate."

"He cares about you," Sam assured her.

"He cared about Sha're. It didn't stop him from unburying the Gate on Abydos," Jillian looked down at the ground and kicked a small stone around with the toe of her boot, "He still says her name in his sleep."

Jillian was wistfully watching Daniel as he talked to Najah, who was clearly hanging on every word. "He never seems to forget where he is in the present. He says my name when it matters," she paused and her smile was sad, "I think I better go rescue him before he gets accidentally married again," she said and then set off across the short distance to the pavilion calling his name, "Daniel!"

Jack was less than pleased by the pavilions. They could attract too much attention and would have to be abandoned in an emergency. However, he had won all the battles all day and decided to let this one go. If his Royal Grandsonness couldn't sleep under the stars, so be it.

Working in long-established cooperation, the SG team had camp made and a cheerful fire crackling in a short enough time to impress even Nirok. They broke out field rations while the attendants saw to the needs of the Royal couple. Then the members of the SGC, Maia and Najah settled around the campfire to eat and Nirok and Hanif vanished into the tent without as much as a good night.

"You know," Daniel commented, later, chewing listlessly on an MRE that was labeled 'beef stew', "I forgot how bad these taste."

Jack, who was eating with distracted gusto, said, "That's why MRE actually stands for Meals Rarely Edible. But I thought everything tasted like chicken to you."

"That would only improve this. At least it wouldn't taste like a cardboard box."

Teal'c lifted a quizzical eyebrow, "I am curious, Daniel Jackson, when you last tasted a cardboard box so that you could compare the two."

Daniel grinned at him.

Maia, in the meantime had moved so that she was sitting close to O'Neill. She rested a hand on his arm to get his attention.

"I am also, curious about something, Colonel O'Neill," she said, in her lilting accent.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Jack asked, scraping the last of his spaghetti out of the box.

"Do you have any other children besides Daniel?"

Sam choked on the mouthful of chicken and noodles she'd been attempting to eat, causing Teal'c to pat her on the back vigorously. Daniel, attempting to drink from a water bottle, succeeded only in spewing it out into the fire. Jack paused with a fork midway to his mouth, frozen as if he had looked into the face of a medusa.

"Wha…?" he finally managed.

Maia's brows were knitted in confusion. "That is Daniel's name. Daniel Jack's Son. Is it not?"

Jack and Daniel locked eyes across the fire. After a long stillness, Daniel spoke finally, or at least he made noise. He sounded more like a chipped CD.

"Uh, Well…uh uh… yes. That _is _..my…my name, but in this case it-it-it's….it's a completely different Jack."

"Right!" O'Neill seized on that like a drowning man seizes a rope, "Completely different Jack. Jack's a very common name on earth."

Maia still looked puzzled. Sam was struggling to look as calm and resolute as Teal'c, though even Teal'c looked amused. Jillian was looking back and forth between Daniel and Jack, smiling as if she had just tasted something delicious.

"Yes," Daniel said, having somehow managed to get his brain and vocal cords to function together, "It's a _very _common name."

"And my actual name is John, which is really even more common," Jack rushed on."So that would have meant Daniel's last name would be Johnson."

Jillian couldn't stand it. "Which would be… _OW, DANIEL!"_

Daniel had kicked her rather solidly in the ankle to stop whatever havoc she had meant to wreak.

"Inaccurate," Daniel finished for her, "She was going to say inaccurate."

Darkly, Jillian muttered, "No I wasn't." She rubbed her ankle through the firm support of her hiking boot, scowled for a moment but then grinned at him with too much obvious affection for him to stay mad.

Trying to help Sam spoke up, "Besides, the Colonel isn't old enough to be Daniel's father. He'd be more like a ..a much older brother."

Jack's eyebrows climbed up to his hairline and Samantha stammered to a halt, realizing she could have phrased that better. Several heartbeats of awkward silence followed.

"Why don't we sing?" Daniel suddenly asked in a single breath.

"Sing?" Jack asked, blankly.

"Yes!" Daniel went on. He rounded on Jillian so suddenly she jumped backwards a bit "Jillian! You have a great voice. Let's sing something. Who doesn't love campfire songs?"

"Campfire songs?" she repeated, wide eyed.

"Yes," he said, "It's an earth tradition right? Well, our part of earth anyway. We can share. What do you want to sing?"

Jillian continued to stare at him as if he had grown wings. Into the silence, remembering a rather uncomfortable brain implant, Teal'c intoned solemnly,

"Anything but Row Row Row Your Boat."


	6. Chapter 6

In the end, Daniel had prevailed and gotten Jillian to sing. Jack was surprised to discover that her voice would make the angels pause to listen; and who knew Daniel could sing? Jack didn't want him to quit his day job – especially since Daniel's day job had saved their lives more than once- but hearing him with Jillian was at least a very pleasant way to pass an evening. Maia and Najah shared a song from their Clan in their native language that had Daniel scribbling the words on a notepad and making notes in the margins. Jack had been concerned about the noise, not wanting to attract undo attention, but there wasn't any alcohol involved so no one got too loud or too bawdy.

Teal'c had not moved from his position, seated cross-legged by the fire beside O'Neill. He used the flames to vanish into a state of kel'no'reem in preparation for the first watch.

Jillian had watched SG-1 do this before – communicate without saying a word. They had chosen spots around the fire at compass points, so that each one was watching a different direction. They knew before they got started who would have what watch during the night. It was effortless.

Jack and Daniel had entire conversations just saying each other's names, sometimes just by sharing a look.

Jack's injections had gone off like clockwork, without a sound though the other three had sometimes shared covert glances that spoke of concern. It didn't look to anyone like the inflamed wound was getting any better.

SG-1 was unrepentantly efficient.

Jack had let the sing-a-long go on for a short while and then said,

"Okay, kids, it's bedtime. I want an early start so we don't have to hike through the heat again."

Military training had Sam on her feet and heading for her bedroll before he stopped talking. Teal'c had come instantly out of his kel'no'reem, taken his staff weapon and begun a slow circular patrol of their campsite. The small princess and her handmaiden had vanished into their tent.

Jillian stood reluctantly and shared a rather chaste and restrained good night kiss with Daniel before crawling into a sleeping bag that was as close to his as possible. She had lain awake for some time, comforted by the star patterns that had become increasingly familiar the longer the she had been on Liaro.

She watched as Jack had taken Daniel aside, away from the others to confer in private. She knew they were talking once again about the trail ahead, the danger posed by the Shunsh'ri. Teal'c passed them on his rounds and paused to speak in a low whisper for a moment before continuing on. They were outlined in moonlight, rugged, unmistakably male - men of casual power and authority, confident in their abilities.

Maia's words came back to her. _Your world has those men in it._

O'Neill had worried that he might not sleep the night before. His wound was bothering him more than he would let on, and Daniel had warned him they would enter the winter grounds of the Shunsh'ri – the Wild Ones – at some point the next day. Nirok had made light of the matter, claiming the Shunsh'ri had not bothered them in the slightest when he made his pilgrimage to the Temple. There had been some nasty business with a pack of roving beasts that had seen them as a potential meal, but that had been all. Privately to Jack later on, Daniel had explained that the Shunsh'ri had most likely still been higher in the mountains and unaware of the prince's party at all.

Before he had gone to his own familiar sleeping bag, Jack had taken Daniel aside and asked him again about the Wild Ones. They had consulted the map Jillian had meticulously copied from the Book of Theroc, and Daniel reaffirmed the information about the nomadic movement of the Shunsh'ri. Military experience had won out on him – sleep when you can. He woke in time to take his part of the watch, relieving Daniel, crawled back into his sleeping bag when Sam relieved him and was instantly back to sleep.

Well, it was either military experience or old age and war wounds catching up on him. O'Neill didn't dwell on that too long. Sam had said Jack could be Daniel's much older brother. Some days he felt more like he could be his grandfather.

Knowing they were moving into potential enemy territory, Jack was careful where he let them stop for breaks. An easily defended, highly placed out cropping of rock was an obvious place.

Daniel had taken a power bar and some water and gone to stand perched on the edge of a boulder, looking out over the surrounding terrain. He was no naturalist, but somehow the brilliant sky and the rocks with their glittering shades of tan and gold seemed beautiful. Teal'c came to stand beside him, staff weapon held loosely but at the ready.

"You present an easy target standing out on this ledge, Daniel Jackson," he said, with a thinly disguised thread of disapproval in his voice that clearly said, _I trained you better._

Daniel rocked on his heels, finished what he was chewing and grinned at the Jaffa. Jack had driven them to the point of exhaustion many times as a group, in training scenarios Daniel had at one time thought were unlikely. He knew now that Jack's imagination had barely scratched the surface of what they could encounter.

But it was Teal'c who had taken Daniel aside and taught him everything possible about fighting the Jaffa, and keeping his team alive.

"Just enjoying the view," Daniel said.

Teal'c head swiveled like a mounted weapon.

"Which makes you no less of a target," he said.

The corner of Daniel's mouth twitched but he swallowed the smile. He started to point out that Teal'c was a bigger target than he was when the Jaffa's body language changed. Teal'c had frozen, barely breathing. His slitted eyes swept the terrain below and down the trail.

Daniel went on alert, like a gazelle that had been peacefully grazing alerting to the presence of a lion. His hand dropped to the hilt of his gun, riding on his thigh. No one hated using a gun more than Daniel, but he had learned the lesson of protecting those he loved. He had learned it the hard way.

Sha're had taught him, when it was already too late. He was anxiously aware that nearly everyone he loved in the Universe was with him at the moment.

"What?" Daniel asked. He trusted Teal'c without question. The Jaffa had proven countless times that his senses were sharper and more accurate than his Tauri companions.

"We are being watched."

Daniel got out the small pair of binoculars he carried and trained it in the direction Teal'c was looking. The slightest movement caught his attention.

"Yep," he drawled slowly, "You're right. It's probably the Shunsh'ri. Jack!"

O'Neill strolled out to join them, his casual demeanor belying his sense of urgency. Daniel pointed and handed the binoculars to him.

"Company," O'Neill muttered. He gave the binoculars back to Daniel. "Okay, is this the Wild Ones I keep hearing about?"

"Pretty sure," Daniel said. He pulled his glasses off and adjusted the binoculars to take another look.

"So how do we play this?" Jack asked.

Daniel felt the cold hard metal of his Berretta under his fingertips and forced himself to relax.

"I say we go talk to them," he said.

Jack stared at him for a moment. Daniel knew better than to be fooled by the Colonel's relaxed posture.

"Of course you do," O'Neill said.

He turned to start back towards the rest of the group with Daniel and Teal'c falling in step beside him.

"I suppose you want to shoot first and ask questions later," Daniel muttered.

O'Neill glanced at him sideways. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, kids," Jack said when they got back to the others, "The neighbors sent a welcoming committee, waiting up ahead. Daniel wants to talk to them."

The Liaroan contingent stared at O'Neill, but Jillian and Carter both nodded as if that was perfectly logical. Jack swiveled to look at Teal'c,

"Our science department seems to be in agreement," he remarked, caustically. Then he gave Carter a narrow look, as if she had betrayed him.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed with a slow tilt of one eyebrow.

"Teal'c, you take Jillian and Carter and get these people to higher ground, something defensible. Daniel, you're with me."

The members of SGC moved instantly to obey, as did most of the others. Nirok however stood his ground, his hands curled into fists on his hips. He faced Jack squarely, as the very young and very arrogant often do, in unspoken territorial challenge.

"I will go with you and Daniel," he said, firmly. "This is my world, not yours. If anyone has a right to approach the Shunsh'ri, I do. The Un'ri are also trained in battle, O'Neill. Do not dismiss my skills."

Maia hissed a single, sharp word and color flooded into Nirok's complexion, dusky now – the color of anger, and of embarrassment. But he did not back down.

Jack glanced at Daniel again, an unspoken prompt. Very lightly, Jackson said,

"No one doubts your skill, Nirok. Jillian and I have spent time with the Un'ri. We saw a display of the training you go through."

Daniel shot Jillian a look and she nodded emphatically. "We did," she agreed, adopting Daniel's calm and reasonable tone, with just a dash of admiration for good measure.

Jack decided it wouldn't hurt for a beautiful woman to sound like she admired the little godling. It seemed to work, as Nirok all but preened, planting his feet wider and throwing back his shoulders.

Daniel went on, "But no one wants to start a confrontation here that could end in someone getting hurt or killed. You will be First of the Un'ri one day. If you think you can make use of the same diplomatic skills your current First has, then you can come."

They watched the subtle change come over him as Daniel spoke. The anger, the touchy pride, slid slowly beneath the surface. He drew a breath, exhaled it slowly and made a conscious effort to relax the fists still curled on his hips. He nodded curtly at Daniel and then marched off towards the trail.

Daniel and Jack walked off shoulder to shoulder.

"He can _come_," O'Neill grumbled.

Daniel didn't answer.

They made it to a bend in the trail near where Teal'c and had spotted the Shunsh'ri. They stopped and Daniel called a greeting in the native tongue. One of the Wild Ones stepped from behind the rocks into their path.

Then, without so much as a whisper of warning, eight more had them surrounded. They wore cloaks of brown and black fur, with leggings and boots that appeared made of tanned animal skin. Their jewelry and other adornments were made of stones and bones and animal teeth. They carried only clubs, but held them in a manner that showed they knew how to use them.

"Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Everyone stay calm," Daniel said, but his throat suddenly seemed very dry.

Something slammed into Daniel's lower back. He folded, emptied of breath, of sense and went down hard onto his side as Jack was thrown into him. He felt the weight of O'Neill landing on top of him, and then the impact on the side of his head and a blinding pain.

The Shunsh'ri made a sound now – a high pitched undulating war cry that rang inside his pounding head and was the last thing he heard before darkness descended on him.


	7. Chapter 7

"Daniel!" Jack's voice echoed unnaturally and he tried to block it out. "Come on Daniel, wake up."

Experience had taught Daniel that waking up after a blow to the head was never a pleasant thing. This time proved to be no exception. He blinked, focused and sat up – which was not the best choice. He waved Jack off and stood – which was _really_ not the best choice. The earth spun and he clutched Jack's arm for a moment.

"Daniel, sit," Jack ordered.

"I'm okay," he insisted, until he realized everything was blurry even though he hadn't lost his glasses in the confrontation.

"Daniel," Jack said with far more force and far less patience, "_Sit._"

"I'm not a dog, Jack," Daniel grumbled, but he backed up a step until his heel hit a boulder and sat down gingerly.

His back and head ached without mercy. He adjusted his glasses, which he finally registered where sitting cockeyed. Unfortunately, his vision sharpened only slightly.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Jack asked.

O'Neill was so close to him, Daniel had to lean back to see.

"One," he muttered.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I'm going to throw up," Daniel admitted.

"Put your head down."

He pulled his knees up to his chest and dropped his head forward onto his folded arms.

"Where's Nirok?" Daniel asked.

"They took him."

"_WHAT?" _ He looked up too fast and the world tilted wildly.

Jack put his hand on Daniel's neck and forced his head back down. Daniel didn't protest.

Into his radio, O'Neill said,

"Teal'c"

"Go ahead."

"Bring everyone down here."

"Understood."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Daniel's voice was muffled.

"I want everyone together," Jack said, shortly.

Daniel knew it was pointless to argue. Besides, Jack's forehead was bleeding and he was pretty sure he had a cut on the side of his head. They needed first aid. He looked up and was somewhat relieved to find the world had sharp edges again.

"Did you see which way they took Nirok?"

Jack gestured up the trail they had intended to hike.

"You could hear him yelling for quite a while," he remarked.

"We have to go after him," Daniel said.

"Well, yeah," Jack said, slowly. "You know in the movie, _two_ of the Hobbits got kidnapped by the Orcs."

"In the book," Daniel corrected, irritably, "The movie was based on a classic piece of literature. I don't suppose you read it?"

"Was it two Hobbits that got captured by Orcs in the book?"

"Yes."

"My point exactly."

Daniel would have shaken his head in exasperation but it was starting to throb even more.

By the time the rest of the group joined them, Jack was sitting too, holding his sleeve against the bleeding cut on his forehead and swearing softly under his breath.

Jillian attended the gash on the side of Daniel's head with a minimum of fuss.

Even his sharp, "Ow!" in response to the antiseptic she applied got him no sympathy.

"It's a long way from your heart," she said, "and not nearly as bad as the time you forgot how low the ceiling was in the Temple on P3X-149."

"Don't remind me," he reached out and clasped her arm, his hand closing over her wrist.

Their eyes locked. She smiled at him softly and he forgot all about his injured head.

"So, I am hoping that the camp of this Wild People wont' be too hard to find?" Jack said, with more question than hope in his voice. He was gingerly fingering the clean bandage on his forehead and winced lightly.

"I can find them," Hanif said, with confidence.

Jack turned to regard the small man, who until now had been all courtesy, all calm and quiet efficiency. Jack had barely registered his presence in the group.

"I have served the First of the Un'ri since I was a child," Hanif went on. "In this position I have not just folded linens and served meals. I was also taught to fight to defend my leader, and to hunt and to track. I am the eyes and ears of the First. It would be his will that I lead the search for his heir."

The midday sun was harsh on his leathered features and his expression flared with determination and intelligence. For the first time Jack noticed that, while Hanif was small, he was also well muscled and seemed possessed of a wiry strength. He was probably not as old as he appeared, either. The lines in his face and the bleached sections of his black hair were more the work of the desert than time.

It was the longest thing O'Neill had heard the man say.

O'Neill stood for a moment and then nodded.

"All right, oh Eyes and Ears," he said. "Everyone get your gear. We stay together."

In the end the camp of the Shunsh'ri was not all that hard to find. Hanif had taken them off the trail at one point and up a steep and winding track barely wide enough to pass. Following subtle signs in the scrubby, desert landscape, he seemed at times to be using his nose to find them, listening and testing the wind when it would rise out of the west. They came eventually to a small clearing that contained a camp of tents. It was not unlike the one the Bak'ri had in the valley below, except that these tents appeared to be made of fur and leather instead of fabric. There was a large central tent from which a great deal of noise was emanating.

The SGC team and their companions knelt behind a cluster of boulders and surveyed the situation. Teal'c, Daniel and O'Neill passed binoculars back and forth.

"Well,' Daniel said, finally, "They appear to just be having some kind of feast, which could be good…. Or bad"

"How?" Jack asked.

"Good because it could mean that they've come to some kind of understanding with Nirok and our celebrating; bad because they could just be celebrating his capture, or worse his execution," he paused, "or it could just be dinner time."

"So how do we do this?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't think it's a good idea to go walking in there armed," Daniel said."We have no way of knowing what the reception could be."

"Trying to talk to them before did not go well," Teal'c observed.

"Maybe second time's the charm," Jack said. "Nothing we can do but try. Daniel, you're with me. Teal'c, stay here, don't take your eyes off that tent, and if I don't contact you in thirty minutes, bring Carter and the big guns."

"Understood."

Jack may have imagined it, but there was just hint of exasperation in Teal'c voice.

Leaving their weapons with Carter and Jillian, Daniel and Jack partially slid down the gravelly hill above the camp and walked a straight, determined line to the tent. The last Teal'c saw was the main tent flap closing behind them.


	8. Chapter 8

Later, when Jack was asked to describe the fight and how it got started, he realized that it was almost impossible to do so. From inside a fight, it's hard to remember to keep track of who did what. He vaguely remembered that, before the fight broke out, it had all been going rather well considering.

They had found Nirok seated on pillows at what appeared to be a "head table" of sorts. He had managed to make friends with the First of the Shunsh'ri, whose name was Akrit as far as Jack could discern. Barbarian that he was, Nirok explained that Akrit wasn't a bad sort once they had had a chance to talk. He had been kidnapped for the sole purpose of making contact.

Akrit was dressed in richer furs, with a cape of smooth tan leather. Around his neck there was a necklace made from the large canine teeth of what must have been a very impressive carnivore. On his head was a crown made of metal, probably iron.

Room had been made at the low table for Jack and Daniel. O'Neill had given Teal'c a brief message that they were all right but to stand by.

There did not appear to be servants or attendants for the Shunsh'ri. They all just got up at random to bring more food, more jugs of what seemed like wine and what passed as the local beer. Daniel discovered they were being hosted by a small hunting party. O'Neill counted at least twenty men in the room, all various stages of drunken revelry as they celebrated a successful hunt.

As the sun began to set outside, the oil lamps hanging on the tent poles were lit.

The wine, beer and food had flowed freely and then eventually the insults. Jack couldn't understand the language but he knew an exchange of insults when he heard it. He also knew the change in Daniel's tone, facial expressions and body language. The verbal jabs had been good-natured at first, but they had gotten worse and more personal. At least that's what Daniel said later. To his credit, Daniel had done what he could to talk everyone down. Jack seemed to recall that the first punch got thrown at Daniel, in fact.

Daniel had sworn, loudly, in a language Jack hadn't understood but he knew swearing when he heard it. Jack had lunged to his feet to go to Daniel's defense and then the riot had ensued.

Jack had heard Teal'c sing Jaffa songs of fights and battles and wondered how anyone really knew. Who was taking notes? Explaining in any detail the subtle nuances of response and reaction in the middle of what amounted to a bar brawl was impossible.

There were the usual things – fists landing punches, fingers gouging, feet kicking, wine and beer jugs flying, the low tables upended, food and goblets hurled. He and Daniel made good targets, given that they looked twin Gullivers in Lilliput. Of course a really good bar fight required many targets. Jack doubted that half the participants even knew what had started it. They had just started swinging.

From time to time, he passed Daniel, who was still trying to talk his way out of it even as he used every defensive tactic he had ever been taught. Nirok was lost in a sea of bodies. Jack's wounded shoulder burned with every punch he threw but he didn't have much choice.

It was about that time that Teal'c, Carter and Jillian must have decided to end things. The tent flap opened and a bright spear of fading sunlight stabbed the inside of the tent. Jack saw the outline of three figures. Carter he recognized immediately as she slipped wraith-like into the melee, pale gold, tan and ocher in her desert fatigues, sunlight blazing off her fair hair. She stood to the right of a small and delicate figure that could only be Maia. On the other side of Maia was someone who could only be Jillian.

Jack's first thought was that they had lost their minds walking into the middle of the riot. He used a table for cover and ordered them all out. His voice was lost in the noise.

It was Maia who stepped into the mix, which Jack thought was a really stupid move. Maia pulled an oil lamp down from the pole holding up the entrance. She held it out at arm's length, over the alcohol soaked melee. The flame burned strong and steady and dangerous.

Jillian and Carter each fired their Berettas into the air, once.

Fights don't usually end all at once. But this time everyone simply froze, taking in the unlikely scene of three women holding the tent entrance. Two were giants with something in their hands that spoke thunder. The other was one of their kind, poised to toss a lighted lamp into the middle of the chaos.

A moment later, another giant came in the tent. Taller and more terrifying than the women, he carried a long staff and a deep scowl.

It was enough to make any fight die a quick, natural death and this one did.

Carter's clear voice rang out, "Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack crawled out from behind the table, stood and kicked some debris out of the way.

"Daniel?" he yelled.

He looked around and found Daniel in a corner, struggling out from under a half dozen bodies that had him pinned. He got unsteadily up off the floor. He was disheveled, wet mostly from spilled alcohol, and there was blood on his face. But, damn, Jackson hadn't even lost his glasses in the altercation.

"Here," he said as he regained his balance and began slogging forward through the mess.

The next one who spoke was Maia, in her cool clear voice. "Nirok."

There was a long moment of silence and then Nirok also stood up. He was covered in blood and wine. He had perhaps not seen the women come in, for he was staring dumbfounded at the image of his intended. She was standing, silhouetted in the fading sun, flanked by giants. The sun gleamed on her long black hair, bronze skin and glinted off the bracelets on her arms. It painted her face into the splendid serenity of one who had walked unafraid and unarmed into a brawl in search of her husband-to-be.

"Maia," he said.

"You will come with me," she said shortly, in English.

There was no man still conscious in the tent that would have disobeyed her. Even in a language they didn't understand, her intent was clear. There was silence as he picked his way through the rubble, paused before her for an instant and then left the tent. Maia carefully rehung the lamp and followed him.

Daniel and Jack moved to join the rest of their group. Jillian touched Daniel's face.

"You're bleeding," she observed.

"Pretty sure it's not mine," he said. His smile attempted to comfort, but just looked wry and self-deprecating. He turned to face the tent again and addressed the still frozen Shunsh'ri in their native language. Then he walked out of the tent with Jillian following him.

Jack went next with Carter on his heels. Teal'c took a moment longer to glower meaningfully at the Shunsh'ri and then exited the tent.

"What did you tell them?" Teal'c asked Daniel.

"That we were going to be continuing our journey and that we expected to be unheeded," Daniel answered."Oh, and that we hoped we could resume talking again in the future."

"Good," Teal'c growled, and then added with a note of disapproval, "though I suggest in future talks, alcoholic beverages should not be allowed."

"You've got that right," Daniel said, touching the back of his wrist to a bruise rising on his cheek and wincing.

Carried by their longer stride, Teal'c and Daniel fell in beside Jack as they marched back downhill in the fading light.

"That went well," O'Neill observed, mildly.

Daniel shot him a mystified look.

"No it didn't," he said.


	9. Chapter 9

They passed a fitful night. After making their way down the narrow, treacherous path as far as they could in the fading light, Jack had finally ordered them to stop in a small clearing. After they had rebandaged Jack's bleeding forehead and given him his shot; and determined that the blood all over Daniel and Nirok was not theirs, Jack had ordered them into shifts of two people to stand watch. They made due with sleeping bags only and for once Nirok remained silent on the subject.

Back at the river the next morning, Nirok, Daniel and Jack decided they'd had enough of smelling and feeling like a barroom brawl. Their hair was stiff with dried wine and blood and even cold water was better than continuing in their present state.

When Daniel eventually came striding back up from the river - clean and smelling better, hair roughly dried and tousled - Jillian had walked straight into his arms and given him the long, lingering, good morning kiss she'd denied him in his unkempt state earlier. She laced her fingers together against the small of his back and he cradled her face between his palms.

Jack and Teal'c had exchanged a look with raised eyebrows. Maia and Najah had grinned and giggled openly. Sam glanced away to give them some privacy, and saw Nirok speculatively watching Maia. She found that encouraging. It was the first time she had seen him take any interest in his bride-to-be.

The moment was broken when Jack walked past Daniel and Jillian and smacked Daniel on the hip with the back of his hand.

"Come on," he said, "Before we have to get you two a room."

"I do have a tent," Daniel observed.

Jack shot Daniel a look that was mildly surprised and questioning. Five years ago, Daniel's face would have flushed to the roots of his hair if Jack had made a similar comment. Now he just looked amazingly confident, pausing to brush his lips across Jillian's forehead before striding up to take point with O'Neill.

Noticing the way Jack was looking at him, Daniel's eyebrows lifted. "What?"

"Nothin'," O'Neill said.

Nirok and Hanif joined them at the front. Jack didn't say anything as the trails would soon begin to branch off and become less clear. They would need the Un'ri men to show them the way.

Teal'c walked just behind them with the Bak'ri women and Sam and Jillian had their six.

They had walked in silence for several miles when Nirok suddenly said to Daniel,

"Tell me about your woman."

Daniel, whose thoughts had no doubt been in a dozen other places, blinked and stared at him for a moment.

"My? Oh, you mean Jillian," he paused and shook his head, "She isn't 'my woman'. Ever."

"You did not buy her?" Nirok seemed puzzled.

"No," Daniel answered, shortly.

Jack glanced at him. Daniel rarely discussed his personal life, even with them, and Jack had reason to know he was touchy about this new relationship. Daniel was looking steadfastly ahead, blue eyes fixed on the trail ahead.

"She was given to you then? By her father or another male family member?"

Daniel visibly winced. A muscle rippled from his temple to his jaw and Jack knew Nirok had hit much too close to an emotional sore spot.

"No, she was not given to me," Daniel's voice was tight and flat.

Nirok persisted. "You do not own her?"

"No one owns her. She isn't a slave!"

"She is bound to you in some way then? You are married."

"No, we aren't married!"

Jackson stopped talking abruptly and O'Neill knew he was struggling for patience. Nirok actually helped break the tension, though unintentionally.

"Then why does she stay with you?"

A short, sharp bark of laughter left Daniel. He relaxed a bit. "I've been asking myself the same thing for months."

O'Neill chuckled a bit and Daniel shot him a wry, grateful look. Jackson was hoping that might be the end of the conversation, uncomfortable as it made him. But Nirok was still looking at him expectantly, wanting a straight answer. Daniel considered it for a bit. He and Jillian had discussed the chilly relationship between Nirok and Maia, in very low tones as they had stood a joint watch together in the night. Nirok had been handed a beautiful, intelligent, wealthy young woman. Perhaps he really didn't know what it would take to simply attract one.

The problem at hand was that Daniel wasn't really sure either. He knew why he was attracted to _her_; but why she was with him puzzled Daniel.

"Jillian stays with me because she wants to," he said, finally. "It is her choice entirely. There is …. _Joy_ in that. I'm not sure you can understand what it means for a woman to _choose_ to be with you, because it is what _she_ wants."

"But she is of great value!" Nirok protested. "How will you keep her?"

_Keep her! _Daniel thought. He had no idea how to keep Jillian. Half the time he was sure she would be better without him. She had already attended one memorial service for him and if not for the Nox she would have attended another. She spent a quarter of her life watching him vanish through the Gate never knowing if he would come back, a quarter of her life thinking he was dead, a quarter watching over him in the infirmary and a quarter actually enjoying his presence. For Jackson that was math that just didn't add up.

Of course that wasn't how Maia and Nirok would live, so that wasn't exactly the answer he could give Nirok.

"I'll keep her by…." He paused and then the words came in a rush, "By honoring her intelligence and her independence and by acknowledging her strength; by telling her how much I need her support. I'll keep her by listening and responding to what she needs; and by letting her know every day she is special to me."

All the things he wished he had done with Sha're, every day. All the things he thought he had forever to say because they were both young and strong and would always be together.

All the things he knew Jack wanted to say to Samantha and couldn't.

But Daniel didn't – he _couldn't - _say that. He could barely talk to jack about Sha're without opening up the thousands of cuts his soul had endured.

They walked a few more paces in silence as Nirok considered what Daniel had said. Then abruptly Daniel turned around and started walking back down the trail.

"Daniel?" Jack yelled.

"I'll send Sam up to take point with you. I want to walk with Jillian for a bit."

Jack didn't argue with him. For one thing, it gave him a chance to walk with Carter and he hadn't even set it up that way.

After a few hours, the difficulty of the climb began to vary – from bad to worse. The higher they went the steeper and narrower the climb became. Eventually even the sparse vegetation vanished. Gusts of dry, warm wind threw fine grains of sand at them. A steep slope dropped away just a few feet from where they walked. An occasional stray stone accidentally kicked over the edge served as a stern warning, clicking and clattering on the rocks as it fell, finally falling out of earshot all together. It was now a long, long way down. The Liaroan sun blazed down on them without mercy and forced them to pause in the shade during the worst part of the day.

The clouds were gathering over the peaks in a way that they found alarming. It seemed the clouds had silently crept in unnoticed by them. But then they had been more concerned with the treacherous path under their feet than the sky over their heads. Daniel had spent more time than any of them living in the desert. He knew what havoc gathering storm clouds could bring. He glanced at Jillian and saw the same concern mirrored in her eyes.

"Did you have an argument with Jack?" Jillian asked.

"What?"

"You walked away from him rather abruptly. I thought maybe you two had words again."

"Oh," Daniel said, realizing how it must have looked to her, "No. We're fine. I just decided that I would much prefer your company."

Jillian glanced up at him, to favor him with a pleased smile. Her attention caught on his mouth, the soft curve of it and the little smile lingering at the corners. Sky blue eyes were hidden behind his shaded lenses. Light glinted bronze on his jaw, his sideburns and the fine hairs along the back of his neck. There was a light blue-gray bruise on his cheek that seemed to be the only leftover damage from the night before. His pulse beat steadily in his throat and she knew what it felt like, racing, under the pressure of her kiss. For just a moment her heart faltered and she was intensely aware of his presence.

He was pure gold at his core.

"I miss you too," she said, softly.

"I'm right here," he said.

"You know what I mean."

He did. The tender longing in her good morning kiss had reminded him that the dig site was not the only thing they were doing without. Not just sex, but the casual intimacy he had grown accustomed to having in his life again. He missed warm, slow, relaxed times in each other's arms when they spoke long into the night in the language of archaeology and anthropology, short handing things into acronyms until their conversation was unintelligible to anyone outside the field. He missed watching her sleep and waking up to find her making coffee, dressed only in one of his t-shirts and a scrap of fabric that passed for underwear.

Protected by his sunglasses, he observed her. Jillian had always reminded him of autumn in New England, all shades of brown and gold and red dancing at the end of a warm summer. The dappled golden-green of her eyes completed the image. She wore a bandana around her wanton mass of hair, but the long braid still trailed down her back; chestnut and mahogany silk intertwined. Stray curls had escaped and lay against the soft skin of her lovely neck and behind her ear, near the spot that drove her wild when he teased it with his lips and tongue.

"You'd rather be back at the dig," he said.

"God yes," she exhaled, with feeling.

"Me too," he admitted,"There was that door we hadn't opened yet, and the chamber under the main hall."

"Not to mention that every step takes you further from the Stargate. Even Liaro couldn't hold you forever, Daniel."

They exchanged a long look. Jillian understood Daniel's conflicting needs for security and stability, versus adventure and excitement. He just wasn't sure she shared them.

"Is that what you want, Jillian? To go back to the days when I disappeared through the Gate, or you did, and neither of us know what will happen on the other side?"

"The Stargate program is your whole life, Daniel," she said, "for all that you've taken a month vacation from it. We both know you'll go back to it."

"That isn't what I asked you," he answered. "What do _you_ want?"

"Me?" she repeated blankly.

"Yes. You have a choice, Jillian. You don't have to go back just because I do."

"Don't you want me to go back with you?"

Daniel clenched his teeth for a moment. "I'm not worrying about what I want at the moment. I'm curious what your choice is."

Jillian looked resolutely ahead, her heart and soul churning like white water.

She wanted Daniel. She wanted his intelligence, his integrity, his bright burning soul. She wanted to be with Daniel, beside him, _of _him. She wanted to be the one waiting for him when he came back through the Gate; and to have him waiting for her with his eyes full of relief and joy. She wanted to share her life and her career and her sorrows and joys with him. She wanted to follow him forever, across deserts and oceans and up mountains and over the length of light years.

As much as she had ever wanted anything in her life.

That is what she had told Maia, when the little princess had asked her what it meant to be in love.

But she was nowhere near ready to say such things to Daniel; and Daniel was nowhere near being able to hear them.

"At the moment," she said, slowly, "I would like to get to the Temple of Theroc so Maia can complete this task. After that, well, she tells me there is a waterfall near the Temple so I would like to go there and get cleaned up. Then I would like to get down off this mountain and back to what I actually do for a living – archaeology. I'd like to get that door open and get into that chamber to see what is there, preferably with you at my side but that is _your _choice. After that I would like to go back to the SGC and find out what else is out there in the galaxy." She paused for breath, "And I would dearly love for _someone_ to find a way to defeat the Goa'uld."

Daniel let his next few steps bring him closer to her. He put his arm around her shoulders, squeezed briefly and pressed a quick kiss against her hair before letting go.

"Thank you," he said.

Jillian shook her head and sighed as if mystified.

"And you? You want to go back."

"Yes," but he said it hesitantly, slowly.

"But?"

"I feel like I'm in elementary school and it's Labor Day Weekend."

Jillian laughed for a moment.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" she asked.

"Oh, just something Nirok and I were talking about."

"Must have been an interesting talk," she observed.

Daniel didn't reply but after several more paces he said, "There's a waterfall?"

"That's what Maia says. A short distance from the Temple there is another oasis with a fresh water pool and a waterfall. It probably served the workers who built the Temple and determined its location. From Maia's description it isn't Niagra Falls, but we should be able to stand up under it."

"I wonder if we can get Jack to pick up the pace."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked, "You at least got in the river this morning."

"Would you rather be walking with someone who smelled like a winery?"

"Point taken."

Walking not far ahead of them, Maia couldn't help but overhear their conversation. She was very quiet as she considered Daniel's odd attitude that Jillian could make her own decisions; and the way Jillian looked at Daniel with her heart in her eyes.

Instead of increasing their pace, Jack ordered that they stop to eat. It was Daniel who noticed that Maia ate very little before standing and moving away from the group. She went to stand at the edge of the trail, looking out over the vista of mountains.

Daniel addressed Nirok. "You should go talk to her," he said.

"Why?"

Daniel stared at him for a moment, struggling to give the proper words to what was obvious to him. Jack stepped in,

"Because you're going to be married and you haven't said two words to each other for cryin' out loud."

Then it was Nirok's turn to stare. He looked rather helplessly at Hanif at last and the attendant only shrugged.

As if questioning his own actions, Nirok stood slowy, brushed crumbs off his billowy pants and made his way to where Maia was standing. The SGC team exchanged brief conversational glances and then went back to eating. Daniel dug two candy bars out of his pack and gave one to Jillian. She lifted an eyebrow and he shrugged.

"They're going to melt if we don't eat them."

At first, Nirok and Maia kept their voices too lower for their words to be easily discernable. Even when they started raising the volume, only their attendants and Daniel and Jillian could understand them. By the time they got really loud it was pretty obvious they were arguing.

Daniel was so focused on listening to them he stopped chewing and froze. Jillian and the attendants shifted uncomfortably. Jillian glanced at Daniel but he was too fixated on Nirok and Maia to notice. The rest of SG-1 looked at each other in a way that too clearly said _Head's up_.

"Daniel!" Jack finally snapped.

Jackson looked at him like a startled cat, his mouth still full of uneaten candy.

"Swallow," Jack commanded, exasperated. He swore at times that Daniel's brain could only perform a single function – in this case concentrate on new information or eat.

Hurriedly, Daniel did as ordered and washed it back with a gulp of water.

"What's goin' on?" Jack demanded.

"Uh..uh…Maia is telling Nirok that she isn't sure she wants to marry him."

At that point, Maia suddenly whirled away from Nirok and stalked away around a bend in the trail Nirok, at least, went after her.

"What?" Jack, Sam, and Teal'c all said at once.

"Yeah," Daniel acknowledged the implications of that with a single, drawn out word. "She says she wants more control over her own life and she isn't sure that marriage to him is what she wants because….."

He stopped abruptly. Jack, Sam and Teal'c continued to hold him in a single powerful stare but Daniel remained stubbornly silent.

"Because?" Jack finally prompted.

Daniel sighed and glanced at Jillian, who looked back at him wide eyed. In a rush he said, "She doesn't want to marry Nirok because she's in love with Jack."

It had the effect of rendering Jack speechless.

"What has Nirok said?" Sam spoke quickly, to fill the awkward silence.

"Well," Daniel began, "So far nothing helpful. He says that without the marriage there will be war, that the Un'ri will never accept a woman as head of any of the People."

"Oh, _that's _the problem," Jillian murmured.

They looked at her.

"I couldn't figure out why the People would go to war unless they married and they never told us. It must be obvious to them," she explained.

"What _is_ it with some of these civilizations that we find?" Sam wondered out loud.

Daniel launched into an explanation, "The subjugation of women seems to be an offshoot of being sedentary, or in this case only semi-nomadic – moving back and forth between the same claimed territories. It increases the vulnerability of a society and the most common outcome is war over resources. Allowing women into battle incurs a significant disadvantage in the long run. That is, the death of a male warrior is only the loss of one man, but the death of a female is the death not of one woman but of the children she might have borne had she lived. Put weapons only in the hands of men and it becomes increasingly easy to erode the place of women in any given society, eventually taking over. In this case I am not sure how the tradition started since the Book of Theroc claims the first leader of the Shunsh'ri was a woman, unless that's what caused the initial separation…."

"_Daniel_!" Jack shouted.

Daniel broke off abruptly.

"There are two armed women sitting right next to you and I'm going to let them open fire if you don't get back to the problem at hand!" Jack finished."What else did they say?"

Daniel blinked, as if he had forgotten what the problem was for a moment.

"Maia says her People don't need an alliance with the Un'ri to avoid war. She wants to seek a marriage with Jack and form an alliance with the….. People of the …Great Crown?"

He glanced at Jillian, for confirmation on his translation.

"Great, in the sense of powerful, or mighty," Jillian supplied, "I think she means the Stargate."

"All the crowns of Liaro resemble the Stargate," Daniel said absently.

"Yes," Jillian agreed.

Teal'c spoke up, "That means the People of the Great Crown is the Tauri?"

"Probably more specifically the SGC," Daniel said. "She says we are more powerful than any of the People, even the Shunsh'ri, who were defeated by our women. If the Bak'ri ally themselves with the Magdalorus'ri – us – then the Un'ri and the Shunsh'ri will never dare to rise up against them. She told him that she has been to our camp and it is all stone and metal, underground, in a vast cavern we dug ourselves; and that our First assured her the People have nothing to fear from outside invasion; that if we had not come in peace there is nothing that any of the Clans could do to resist us."

"Our First?" Jack asked.

"I think she means Hammond," Sam said.

"Oh, he's gonna love that," Jack drawled.

"She is wise beyond her years," Teal'c observed, with admiration in his voice. His team members stared at him blankly. "She thinks like a warrior," he explained, "and seeks the most advantageous alliance for her people. From her point of view the Tauri have more to offer in terms of defense, medicine, resources, command of the Stargate. In addition this alliance also gains her own desire in the process."

"Now wait a minute," Jack said, "First of all someone needs to tell her that there is no 'People of the Great Crown' and even if there was we don't make treaties based on marriage and on top of that I'm old enough to be her father and _not _in love with her…"

He broke off when he realized there were four sets of eyes staring at him expectantly. O'Neill held up his hands in a warding gesture.

"Oh no, no. _No_," he said, adamantly," Daniel, you go talk to her. You can explain it in her language so there's no confusion; or Jillian, woman to woman."

"I don't think that's going to work, Jack," Daniel said, "She needs to hear from you that you aren't in love with her. I don't think she'd take anyone else's word for it. You should go talk to her."

"Isn't that what you just told Nirok to do?" Jack asked, sarcastically, "Look how well that advice turned out!"

"Colonel," Sam spoke up but her voice was much softer than usual, "Daniel is right. She won't believe it from anyone but you. You have to be the one who tells her that it's impossible."

For the briefest moment, Jack's eyes locked with Samantha's. Hers were lit from within with pain and remorse and longing; Jack's with frustration and regret. It was a simple enough exchange but the air seemed to shimmer between them. Respectfully and from long habit, the rest of them pretended not to notice.

The moment was irreparably shattered by a scream. As one unit, all five of them shot to their feet, grabbed weapons and took off at a run in that direction.


	10. Chapter 10

Nirok did the best he could not to act on the fury caused by Maia's irrational behavior. He prowled up the trail after her, speaking in, what he hoped, was a rational tone.

"You are not being reasonable," he said, speaking to her back, "If the Magdalorus'ri are as powerful as you say, then what possible advantage is an alliance with us? They have agreed to protect us the way we protect our animals. All they want from us is access to the ruined cities, and they won't even withdraw their protection if we deny them that! You have _nothing_ to offer Colonel O'Neill or any of them."

She stopped marching up the trail and turned to face him. Maia wasn't trying to contain her fury.

"I have myself!" she shouted.

"With women like Jillian and Samantha under his command, what use are you to him?" Nirok shouted back.

He knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Her face flushed burnt red and tears leapt into her eyes. Nirok regretted it. He had not meant to hurt her. He was not used to caring about anyone else's feelings, but the sight of her large dark eyes shimmering with tears made his heart tumble over. He remembered the sight of her the night before, standing in the doorway framed in sunlight - all beauty, all bravery, all that he could have hoped for in a royal wife.

She was already his, for the taking. She was promised to him by every law honored by their culture.

But she was not his in fact. She did not belong to him by her own choice, which was a thought he would never have entertained if not for the extraordinary relationship he had witnessed between Jillian North and Daniel Jackson.

Frantically he seized on what Dr. Jackson had said earlier.

"But you have much to offer me," he said, rushing his words desperately, "You offer yourself in exchange for peace between our People. Believe it or not, Maia, I do not want war. You were born and raised to lead your People. I was not. Becoming First of the Un'ri was not something that should ever have fallen on my shoulders. If not for the accidents that befell the men in my family, I would not be here before you at all. I will need your wisdom and the skills of leadership you have been taught. You are brave and beautiful. There is not a man among the Un'ri who does not envy me."

Maia was staring at him, breathing slowly and deeply.

There was a clatter of rock behind them. Nirok whirled to see a pile of stones that had not been there a moment ago. He frowned; and then another rock came tumbling down as if thrown.

Who would be throwing rocks at them?

Then a horrible memory returned from his journey to the Temple. The creature that had attacked them had first caused a distraction by throwing rocks with its prehensile tail. He whipped back, shouting Maia's name just as the creature leapt at her from the jagged cliff above.

Fangs and tawny fur flew at them. There was a screeching roar and Maia screamed. He had just enough time to shove Maia out of the way, blocking the attack with his own body. He felt pain and hot, feral breath as the weight of the creature knocked him backwards towards the edge of the trail. His head struck something hard as he fell.

Claw slashed at his shoulder and caught fabric, tearing both it and the flesh beneath. Nirok rolled, trying to protect his head and throat, trying to curl up in a ball. The edge of the cliff loomed and he felt himself starting to go over.

Then he heard a high-pitched whine and felt a searing heat. The creature gave one last roar of pain. Maia was screaming his name now and his head spun. He fought the blackout he knew was coming.

Hands grabbed him – small hands, dragging him back from the edge; Maia's hands. Then three more sets had him; strong hands that lifted him and pulled him to safety.

He heard the voice of O'Neill asking him something. But it was as if the words came from far away as he slowly lost consciousness and all was dark and quiet.

"I don't remember this part," Jack said.

"What part?" Daniel asked.

"From the movie," Jack commented,"When did two of the Hobbits get attacked by a ….a…. What the hell is this thing anyway? It looks like a cross between a monkey and a big cat."

The carcass of the beast was lifeless on the trail, its head shattered into blood and bits of bone by the impact wound of Teal'c staff weapon. The Jaffa had managed to deal the creature a mortal wound without hitting Nirok. Jack was suitably impressed. He nudged it with his boot while Daniel held his Berretta pointed at it, in case Teal'c's work had not been as thorough as it appeared. It wasn't particularly big, though nothing on this world seemed to be. Jack lifted its upper lip with his toe and inspected the teeth. At least now he knew where Akrit had gotten his necklace.

"It's a zenagret," Daniel answered.

"Isn't that what you put on a salad?" Jack asked.

Daniel's eyes rolled and he sighed. "That's _vinaigrette_," he said.

Jack managed to look utterly innocent. "Hey! Do I eat salad? Besides, words are your thing, not mine." He stopped nudging the creature and asked, "So any chance these things hunt in packs?"

"You'd have to ask one of the Liaroans," Daniel answered, "I'm not a zoologist." He safed his weapon and put it back. The animal was clearly dead.

"Well let's get it off the trail before it attracts attention," Jack ordered.

As one, the men pushed the zenagret to the edge of the trail and over. They didn't wait around to watch it fall.

Jack surveyed the group. Sam was assisting Hanif with Nirok's first aid. They were fortunate that his injuries amounted to some serious scratches and a possible concussion from the blow to his head.

Jillian was off to one side with Maia. The small princess was clearly upset, speaking rapidly, gesturing with her delicate hands. Jack nodded in their direction.

"That anything I should know about?" he asked.

Daniel squinted at the pair through his glasses.

"Well they're too far away for me to hear everything, though I can catch some of what Maia is saying. She's just telling Jillian about the argument and what happened when the zenagret attacked. It seems the thing attacked her and Nirok saved her from it."

Jack swiveled to look at Daniel.

"That's good," he observed, then after a pause, "Isn't it? She might like him better after this? Right?"

Daniel shrugged. "You're asking me about women?"

"Well, yeah," Jack said, as if it was obvious, "You managed to attract that one." He nodded towards Jillian again, "And that one is hotter than Georgia in August, in case you haven't taken a good look at her lately. In fact, offhand, there was that cute Lt. Satterfield who tried to save your life, Ke'ra, Sarah, Shyla, that girl you claimed when you were a caveman on P3X-797, Hathor…."

A visible shudder ran the length of Daniel's body.

"Oh God, Jack, did you have to go _there_?"

"Well she did pick you out of all of us for her …attention," Jack observed. He hesitated. There was a tension along Daniel's jaw that usually showed up when he was trying to keep something buried. He hadn't meant to dredge up uncomfortable memories. Daniel had said little and Sam reported that she had found him nearly catatonic, but he _did_ remember it. "Okay, look. The only thing I meant was that women are largely attracted to you. Face it, you're a chick magnet."

"Chick magnet?" He shook his head and said, "Considering the some of the women you just named, it seems more like I'm a magnet for the clinically disturbed. Besides," he paused and looked over the rim of his glasses at Jack, "I'm not the one Maia is in love with."

Jack managed to look incredibly uncomfortable and remained silent.

Daniel turned abruptly and said, "I need to see how Maia is and I'm going to go talk to my girlfriend."

Jack alerted like a hound dog scenting prey, "Girlfriend?" He got a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. Casually strolling along behind Daniel he softly sang, "Daniel's got a girlfriend…."

"Shut up, Jack," Daniel said.


	11. Chapter 11

Daniel joined Maia and Jillian, though he approached softly. Deep creases of concern marred the smoothness of his brow and the corners of his eyes. Maia stopped talking when she saw him, walked forward and threw her arms around his waist. The top of her head barely reached his chest.

Daniel looked startled for a moment. Blue eyes sought Jillian's gaze as his arms automatically wrapped around Maia's small frame, as gently as if he was holding a child. Maia rested her head against him, seeking solace in his strength. It took Daniel a moment to realize she was crying.

Jillian walked to Daniel, laid her palm against one side of his face and gently pressed her lips against the other. Then she turned and started to walk away.

Startled for the second time in as many minutes, Daniel pivoted from the waist and called,

"Uh, Jill? Where ya goin'?" His voice held equal parts disbelief and panic.

Jillian paused to look back, green eyes gentle and full of trust and sympathy.

"Talk to her," she said, "You're good at that."

Daniel sighed and said, even though Jillian couldn't hear him, "I came over here to talk to _you_."

But Jillian was gone, leaving him with a very distraught young woman.

Daniel put his hands on Maia's shoulders and pushed her back gently.

"Maia, come here. Sit down."

He took her to some rocks in the shade, made her sit down and then he sat down in front of her on the ground, looking up at her. He waited, brushing away the tears on her face with his fingertips as she stopped crying.

"Oh Daniel, I am so confused," she whispered.

"About what?" he asked.

Maia took a deep breath and let her eyes fall only on Daniel, blocking out the rest of the world. She had never known a man so easy to talk to. He was like a deep well of calm one could fall into without fear. She _had _feared him once. He was so tall, so imposing; gilt-brown and blue and serene as a spring day at the oasis. He had seemed more like Theroc, god among gods, come back to them.

Then she had met O'Neill, who was also tall and but somehow more approachable. She had never feared O'Neill. His voice – quiet and calm with authority and experience - had soothed her nearly from the moment they had met. His certainty of the group he commanded had been evident – Teal'c, who looked as if he could break someone in half with one hand, Daniel who was all intensity and focused energy, Samantha who was both a woman and a warrior. They all followed O'Neill, even now when he was wounded and clearly weakened. Jack moved through life with them at his side and an air of being utterly certain everything would work out fine.

His dark eyes were compelling, though the grim lines at the corners touched her heart. It seemed he should laugh more often and Maia wished she could be the one to make him do so. She wished that O'Neill could stay and help her lead the Bak'ri, even though he was not of them and her grandfather would never approve.

O'Neill was wonderful. He was exotic. He was forbidden.

Her thoughts scattered and flew about but Daniel didn't prompt her to speak. He just waited.

"Everything," she said, finally. She had switched to her native tongue, knowing Daniel could keep up with, understand what she was saying even he had to switch back to English to respond. She wanted to keep her meaning clear. Doe-eyes, still red from crying, looked at him and speared his tender heart. "Tell me what you know of leadership, Daniel?"

"Leadership? Me?" he smiled in a self-deprecating way, "What I know about leadership would fit on the edge of a very small knife."

Maia looked away from him until she found Jack. Gazing at O'Neill intently she said,

"Jack is a leader."

"Yes," Daniel agreed readily, "Jack is a great leader."

"Why?" she asked.

Daniel had never really articulated his thoughts on Jack before, but it was easier to talk about someone else's leadership skills than his own.

"Because he genuinely cares for us," Daniel answered, "He'd never ask us to do anything he wouldn't do himself. He won't hesitate to put himself in harm's way to protect us. He demands a lot from us, but he gives everything he has; and he will never ever leave any of us behind."

"The same can be said for any parent," Maia observed. "He is not your father but he fulfills that role."

"Yes," Daniel agreed, though he was once again slightly uneasy with Maia casting him in the role of Jack's son.

"You call him a great leader, but I have heard you argue with him many times," her brows knitted together at this conundrum.

"Well, Jack and I disagree about a lot, sometimes spectacularly," Daniel admitted, with a wry look that attempted to make light of it, "But that's more our personalities and world view clashing. I respect what Jack knows and what he can do. I defer to him at times and he defers to me at others."

"Jack listens to you, even when he didn't ask for your advice, "Maia observed.

"That's another quality of his leadership. He does listen, to all of us," Daniel said, "Probably most closely to Teal'c."

"Teal'c?"

"Yes, because he rarely speaks, so when he does it must be important."

Maia smiled a little at that, but then looked pensive.

"You speak to me of selfless giving and listening. My grandfather taught me of delegation and maintaining authority. Jillian speaks to me of compassion and understanding; Teal'c of discipline and structure. It is all too much to ask of one person."

"You've talk to all of us?"

"Daniel, I don't know what to do!" she said, and again her eyes filled with tears. "I do not know how to make the stones sing and dance. I do not know how to lead the Bak'ri and yet I am to be queen of the Un'ri as well. I do not know the Un'ri! How can I be all those things?"

She jumped to her feet and began to pace. Daniel could give her nothing at the moment but his attention.

"And what of Nirok? I am to be bound to him!" she went on, "Does he know how to be a leader? He claims now that he needs _me! _He wants _my _help!"

Daniel came alert. "He said that?"

"Yes," her hands fluttered like birds, "He said I was brave and beautiful and that he needed me to help him lead."

Daniel reached up and grabbed her hand as she paced past him.

"Maia, sit down. You're making me dizzy."

Once she was seated and looking at him, he continued, "You _are_ brave and you _are _beautiful; and he will need you."

Maia bit down on her lip. Daniel put both her hands between his.

"You can do this. You are the direct heir of your line. I have no doubts the stones will sing for you."

She smiled a bit. "You don't?"

"None," he said, with assurance. Daniel had a way of saying things that made people believe him. His natural honesty shone in his words.

He watched her look up and search for Jack again, but he wasn't going to have _that _conversation with her. He drew her attention back,

"You need to give Nirok time," he said, "He is probably as terrified as you and too proud to admit it. He made a start today. Hear him out. Spend time with him. You need each other. No one else can relate to what you're both facing."

Now she smiled with real courage and Daniel laughed a bit in relief.

"Do you think I can ever love him, Daniel, the way Jillian loves you?"

Daniel's next thought was that he was glad to already be sitting down. The ground seemed to sway a bit. He inhaled sharply and promptly forgot how to exhale. She was staring at him, her eyes earnest in her pixie face.

"Umm.. uh….sure," he stammered, "I mean, why not?"

Her smiled broadened.

"Maybe I should start by going to find out how he is," she observed, "He did get injured saving my life."

Still off balance, he could only nod.

Before he could stand, Maia leaned forward and put her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his.

"Thank you, Daniel," she whispered.

Then she jumped up and walked quickly but with regal grace in the direction of her fallen hero.

Daniel stood and found Jillian coming back towards him. He felt something catch in his throat, and in his heart. She was so extraordinarily lovely. No one could be in the same space with her for more than ten seconds without noticing her. She was looking at him intently and when she smiled, he temporarily forgot how to breathe again.

By the time she was standing before him he had regained his emotional balance.

"Oh sure," he said, "_Now _you come back; now that she's gone."

"I spent almost a half an hour talking to her and trying to calm her down," Jillian said, "Five minutes with you and she's fine."

He didn't answer and Jillian took the still moment to study him. Light and shadow caressed him, outlining the simple purity of his profile, the line of his jaw; the concentrated, passionate beauty in full lips and classically carved bones. His eyes burned into hers – serenity and intelligence layered over pain and experience.

_Your world has those men in it._

For the moment at least, her world had this man in it.

Daniel lifted both brows quizzically.

"What?" he asked when he realized she was staring at him.

"Nothing," she smiled, and shrugged, "Something Maia said."

"You want to share?" he asked, when she didn't continue.

"I will, someday. Right now, Jack wants us to get ready to move again. At this rate we won't arrive at the Temple until late tomorrow morning."

She started to turn away again but he stopped her.

"Jillian."

When she looked back his hand went to the back of her neck, drawing her forward. He kissed her temple, feather soft, and then rested his forehead against hers. He hovered there for a moment, suspending them both in time. It was reverent and chaste, as if he held something sacred, something that he thought had been lost.

"What?" she echoed his query, looking up into his eyes at last, mystified.

"Nothing," he answered. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth but something solemn lingered in his eyes, "Something Maia said."

Together, they began walking back to the group.

"You want to share?" she asked.

"I will," he said, "Someday."


	12. Chapter 12

The temple was carved inside a mountain. Except for the arched doorway carved into its side, one would never notice it was there. They stood before it as Daniel ran his hands over the inscription carved beside it.

"_Dedicated to the honor of Theroc, god among gods. May he who set the stars in place and travels among them be given glory for all time," _he read.

"I guess we found it," Jack observed.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

"We'll make camp and find this waterfall and get cleaned up and eat," O'Neill went on, "It's too late in the day for anything else."

"But I…I need to….."Maia began.

"No," Jack said, but mildly, as if he was telling a child there wasn't going to be ice cream for dessert.

She opened her mouth to speak again but Jack cut her off again, "No. Maia, you're hot, tired, hungry and …" he stopped. He had been about to say she looked scared to death and decided that wasn't a good idea," so are the rest of us. We need a breather."

Confusion danced across the faces of the Liaroans. Maia looked at Daniel.

"Time to rest," he said. His eyes moved as he sought a Liaroan equivalent. "Um, _rantoof."_

Comprehension dawned and the small natives nodded, though Maia still seemed reluctant.

"Okay," Jack said, utterly pleased to have gotten his way with so little argument. Maia, you know where the waterfall is, so ladies first. The guys can make camp."

Jillian exchanged an anxious glance with Daniel.

"Um, Jack?" Daniel said, "Jillian and I want to check out the Temple, before we bother getting cleaned up."

Jillian nodded eagerly.

Jack pivoted to look at them. They were standing at the stone arch looking like kids at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning. If he said no, O'Neill suspected he was in for the fight of his life. He had been in enough dusty, dirty, cobweb hung ruins with Daniel to understand why they wouldn't want to clean up before going in.

Besides, they were both civilians. It was only a courtesy that they asked him at all; and that being said he was still responsible for their safety.

"Do you think it's safe?"

Daniel sighed. "Jack, Nirok was just here not long ago."

"Could be more of those animals living in there," O'Neill observed.

"We're armed," Daniel responded. He brushed his hand over his hair in irritation, "Jack, what is it that I do?"

"Drive me nuts?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, "What am I?"

"A first class pain in the ass?"

Daniel looked at the sky.

"I'm an archaeologist. It's what I used to do for a living; and I don't get to do a whole lot of it anymore. Mostly I get to translate, which is fine. Don't get me wrong. But sometimes I just really need to get back in the field and after all this time I'm pretty sure I know how to explore a ruin safely."

Jack knew when he was beaten.

"Have fun," he said, gesturing at the door.

Jack was more than a bit relieved to see them both unholster their handguns and move inside the archway cautiously. Anxious as they were to pursue their mutual passion, neither one of them was green when it came to off-world exploration.

The arch was at first just a dark tunnel, but they could see coruscating light only a few yards ahead. Cobwebs snatched at their hair but they moved forward heedless.

The tunnel opened into a huge circular room, dug out of the mountain and intricately carved to honor a god. A skylight poured sunlight from the vaulted ceiling soaring over their heads. Vast arches supported the dome. The walls had been washed white and glistened still, even under the coating of dust left by the centuries since the last worshippers had abandoned the Temple. Every inch of their surface was etched to tell the story of Theroc, god among gods. Stairs led to a raised dais in the very center. Niches set into the walls held statues of humans much too tall to be Liaroans, unless the scale had been grossly inflated. Most of them towered over Daniel and Jillian.

Daniel and Jillian crept into the room, ready to go back to back in a defensive position at the first hint of danger. When nothing happened after several long moments, they relaxed and returned their weapons to their holsters.

At that point, Daniel allowed himself the luxury of a slow three hundred and sixty degree turn to take in their surroundings.

"Wow," he said, softly, in a masterpiece of understatement.

"Yeah," Jillian breathed. "I would say this qualifies as an AAI. Daniel, there is nothing pre-Islamic here. The structure and architecture isn't remotely like the city ruins in the valley or anything from that part of the world on earth."

"No," Daniel said, "It seems Theroc must have been another race entirely."

Reverently, they made their way to the stairs and climbed up to the dais. The floor was sculpted to echo the Stargate. The thirty nine symbols were recognizable if time worn. Four clear crystal pillars, their surface smooth but faceted and sparkling like cut diamonds, stood at the compass points. In the center of the horizontal 'gate' was another crystal pillar.

Jillian checked and said, "The crystals are giving off an energy reading."

"It must be the one the natives are telepathically linked to," Daniel guessed. His voice had that abstract tone that meant his thoughts were miles away from what he was saying.

"All of them?" Jillian seemed surprised."I thought the telepathic link was only passed through the line that was destined to rule over the clans?"

Daniel shrugged. He hunkered down by the center pillar and began brushing away the dirt on the floor. Three tiles were imbedded in the floor surrounding the pillar. Each one represented a different Crown. The one for the Crown of Crystal still bore the faint marks of Nirok's sandaled feet. The one for the Crown of Iron was almost entirely covered in dirt, as was the one for the Crown of Stone.

"It may be," he agreed," But look how far Nirok is from being a direct descendant of the Un'ri First and _he_ got them to sing and dance."

Daniel unclipped his backpack and hastily opened it. He pushed extra clothes and food packs out of the way until he could reach the bottom and then he extracted the Book of Theroc.

He was turning pages when Jillian said,

"Daniel?"

He glanced up and found her gazing at him steadily.

"You carried that book all the way up here?"

Puzzlement flickered across his expressive face. "Yes?"

"It weighs a ton!" Jillian said.

"No. It doesn't," Daniel shrugged, "It meant ditching an extra pair of socks to make room, but I wanted to bring it."

"You have a photographic memory, Daniel."

"For the most part. But that would only help if I had actually had time to read it. From what I can tell no one has read the Book of Theroc in thousands of years. They read it to tell them how to get here, and that's about it."

Jillian studied him as he gently flipped ancient pages, scanning them. Her heart beat hard suddenly. He had no idea how he looked to her to the moment – concentrated energy unraveling a historical mystery, as passionate in the pursuit of knowledge as he ever was in bed. Long elegant fingers traced the paper with reverence. She knew the touch of those fingers.

She wanted to kiss him, to feel his mouth on hers, supple and soft and warm.

Swallowing, she looked away and deliberately began wandering the room.

"Okay, listen," he began, "_And there came to the Temple of Theroc, god among gods, honor to his name, a man named Morok who sought to prove his place among the Firsts. But the stones would not sing or dance in the presence of Morok and he tried to take the Crown of Stone by force. War raged among the Peoples for many days and many nights, and great anger was in their hearts._

_And then the Great god came with a clash of sound and blaze of light. _That's the second time a blaze of light is mentioned that I know of."

She had paused beside a tall doorway leading to an anteroom and given him her attention again.

"Sounds like a description of the Asgard transporter beam," she mused. "Perhaps this is one the Asgard protected worlds?"

"I doubt it. We haven't found anything Norse on this planet," he replied."Just the parallels to pre-Islamic culture."

Daniel stood and began to look around, trying to take in everything at once now. Jillian watched him for a moment until she realized he was lost in observation again.

"Daniel!"

He turned as if he had forgotten she was in the room.

"I'm going to see what's in here," she said, indicating the doorway.

"Be careful," he said.

"It's just another room. It doesn't go very far," she assured him.

Daniel watched her vanish through the soaring arch and then continued his slow prowl around the Temple. Silent in their alcoves, the giant statues seemed to follow him with their eyes. He got out his digital recorder and began making a long slow circuit of the room.

"Daniel? Can you come here?"

He had worked on enough projects with her enough times to know that she had found something exciting, just from the slight tremor in her voice.

He made a mental note of where he had left off recording and jogged across the room and through the arch.

Daniel found her standing in a shaft of sunlight. Freshly disturbed dust danced around her like fairies. Before her was a table made entirely of stone. Her backdrop was a wall full of niches in which tablets and scrolls were stored under a thick layer of dust. Her hair was lightly coated with cobwebs but the cascading ponytail had highlights of cinnamon and cocoa. She had removed her jacket and the little black shirt clinging to her curves brought immediate memories of exactly what she looked like without it. Low slung desert tan pants hugged slim hips.

She had her reading glasses on and was intently running her hand over a stone tablet.

Jillian was archaeology dipped it in sugar, spice and sex. He couldn't help but react.

"What are you?" she asked, without taking her eyes off the tablet. He had to swallow against the dryness in his throat.

"Besides incredibly turned on?" he asked.

Jillian looked at him then, goddess green eyes made more prominent by her glasses. She caught him just as he finished letting his gaze wander from her legs to her face. The flare of passion in his stunningly blue eyes was unmistakable.

She knew she was holding one of the few things that would make him set desire aside.

"Hold that thought," she said, though the glint in her sunlit eyes promised they would get back to it, "What are you?"

"Archaeologist."

"What else?"

"Anthropologist."

"Keep going."

"Philologist."

"That's the one I need. Come here and look at this."

He set the camcorder down on the stone table and moved beside her. The markings on the tablet confused him at first, though they did rivet his attention back on linguistics, as she had known they would.

Philology – the study of how languages change over time. He had a talent for it. The carved writing was Liaroan; and yet it wasn't. It was probably the basis for Liaroan, the way Latin was for English and all the other Romance languages. The symbols nagged at him as he traced them, teased at a memory until…

Daniel drew in a sharp breath and looked at Jillian. Her eyes danced with delight as she watched the understanding dawn in his eyes.

"This is Furling!" he whispered, too awestruck by the realization to speak any louder.

Jillian gestured along the walls.

"Lots of Furling," she said, "Far more than just that fragment we've been working with."

He was almost speechless. He had been trying to use his knowledge of Ancient as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the panels they had found when they rescued Ernest Littlefield; but there wasn't enough Furling text to work with and he'd made no progress finding a common word from which to proceed. He wasn't even certain it read from left to right. Now, if Furling was the basis of Liaroan, it read from top to bottom; and he could put sounds to the symbols.

He thought of the rows of statues and the stunningly beautiful tall graceful Beings they depicted.

"So much for Jack's contention the Furlings must look like Ewoks," he murmured.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"It's not like the Asgard actually look like the depictions of the Norse gods," she reminded him. "Theroc could look like a tribble for all we know."

"It does seem to explain why I couldn't place Theroc in Earth mythology," Daniel went on, " I don't think they were ever on Earth."

"Theroc wasn't Tok'ra or Goa'uld. He was a Furling," she surmised.

"It's probable that he rescued the Liaroans and then became their god; not that he was ever the one who brought them here in the first place," Daniel was starting to speak quickly, "The Goa'uld avoid this world because they once lost it to the Furlings." Now he paused for a moment, "And the Furlings put something in place to protect them, the way Thor's Hammer protects Cimmeria."

He looked up at the wall.

"Is there an order to it?"

"I don't know. I just picked one and stared at it for a while. Then realized what I was looking at," she said. "Then I called you."

"We need to get as much of this recorded as possible," he said. She could see the restless, frantic energy rising in him. "Liaroan reads from top to bottom in columns that go from left to right. It makes sense that they would arrange the walls the same way."

"But where would they start?" Jillian asked.

The niches were set into all four walls, even the one holding the arched doorway.

"Do you have your camcorder?" he asked.

"In my pack."

"I'll take from the door to the middle of that wall. You pick it up from there and go the rest of the way around."

Daniel didn't have to remind her to be careful. Jillian had enough experience digging around in the desert to know what kinds of creatures liked to lurk in cracks and crevices; or how fragile things could be after thousands of years.

Typically they lost track of time. Outside, Jack did not. He had one eye on the sun as it drifted across the sky and the other on the entrance to the Temple, waiting for Daniel and Jillian to reemerge.

_Scientists, _he thought scathingly.

Finally he went in to get them.

"Daniel!"

He found them in an anteroom. They were both filthy. Tracks of perspiration streaked through the dust on their faces. Cobwebs and dust clung to their hair. Jillian was returning stone tablets to slots on the wall. Daniel was kneeling in the dirt slowly moving his camcorder over a line of similar tablets laid out on the floor.

They both looked at him with the wide-eyed bewilderment of baby owls. Jack swallowed a sigh. He knew that very little could distract Daniel when he was in the "zone." Apparently, Jillian was a kindred spirit.

Jack glanced around the room with casual curiosity.

"This had better be good, Daniel," he said, "You've been in here for hours."

"Oh it is," he said, rising. He made an attempt to brush off his pants, realized it was useless and stopped.

Jack rocked on his heels.

"Meaning of life stuff?" he asked.

"Related to that, yes," Daniel admitted.

Jack's eyebrow quirked upwards.

"We'll be here tomorrow," He said.

Daniel's reluctant frown made Jack groan. "Daniel, it's been here for thousands of years. It's not going to fall down and disappear overnight"

Daniel opened his mouth to protest but Jack cut him off, "I know! The other place did fall down and disappear overnight, but this one isn't going to. If you want to get cleaned up and be back for a hot dinner, you need to go now."

Daniel and Jillian shared a look and then she said, "I really would like to clean up. We're losing the sun. It will be too dark in here to record in a little bit anyway."

They made their way back out to a campsite already set up. Daniel and Jillian had their packs already and Jack gave them a brief description of how to get to the waterfall. As they strolled out of the camp, Daniel took her hand as if he had been doing it his entire life.

As he watched them go, Jack called, "Have her back by eleven." He leaned over and commented to Teal'c, "Am I wrong or did they manage to arrange it so they got to go there alone?"

"You are not wrong," Teal'c responded, watching them disappear with a speculative lift of his eyebrow.

"Daniel," Jack murmured, "You dog."


	13. Chapter 13

By the time night had fallen, Daniel had brought them all up to date on the discovery. He had pestered the Liaroans with questions about the Temple and Theroc, but it seemed he knew more already than they did, just from his research. Theroc and his worship had died centuries ago and none of them had any idea what the Crown of Victory was; except that it must indeed still exist if these Goa'uld had left them alone.

Jack was less interested in the Furling writings than he was in the fact that nothing had been found lead to the Crown of Victory.

They had all finally crawled off to sleep. Daniel had stayed up through Teal'c's watch and then through Jack's, further ruining his eyesight by reading the Book of Theroc with a flashlight. He had finally fallen asleep with the book on his chest. It was Sam who slipped off his glasses, set the book carefully aside and threw his sleeping bag over him like a blanket. It was Jillian who woke him in the morning by yanking the blanket off and telling him he was going to miss coffee if he didn't get up.

Few things motivated Daniel like books and coffee. Jack sauntered out of the Temple, arms resting comfortably on his P90 and found Daniel seated cross-legged on the ground with the Book of Theroc across his lap and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Now he's a happy camper," he commented. "Daniel! You keep reading that thing you're going to wear it out."

Daniel looked over the rim of his glasses at him. Sam was seated next to Daniel on the ground, leaning over and listening as he translated all the text he could find about the Crown of Victory.

"I think the Crown of Victory is some kind of shield," she said.

"Planet wide?" Jack was instantly alert, without a trace of sarcasm or cockiness.

"Doubtful," Daniel said, "The People have always been encouraged to stay in the valley and in this immediate mountain chain. It's one of the reasons the territories were so firmly establish early on."

"It has to be in this Temple somehow," Carter said.

All eyes turned to her.

"Think about it," she went on, "This Temple is still vitally important to the culture of three separate clans and yet it's up here carved into the highest mountain in the chain, requiring this long hike to get to. It makes sense to me that anything capable of shielding the valley must have to be up as high as possible."

"If it's a shield," Daniel nodded, which was good enough for Jack.

"But what good is a shield that only protects a small part of a planet?" Jack asked,"We're trying to protect Earth, not just Texas, though I have no doubt that would make Hammond happy."

"The technology would still be very important to have, sir," Carter said, "Anything we can find and reverse engineer is important. We might be able to shield major cities and use them as evacuation points. Plus the Asgard might help us expand on it; and it might not be a shield at all."

"Then what else can it be?" Jack asked. It was not an idle question. He wanted options.

"It might be something like Thor's Hammer, something that kills the Goa'uld but not the host. Any Goa'uld that come through the gate might be instantly transported to this Temple and some kind of device activated. For all we know there's a string of satellites around this planet that activate a weapon. It might be simple jamming technology that knocks out their ship's systems."

"Simple?" Jack asked. Something that could knock out the systems on a Goa'uld mother ship did not sound simple to him.

"It might be the name of a treaty between the Furlings and the Goa'uld, like the one with the Asgard," Daniel suggested. "The references here are very vague."

Jack resisted the urge to sigh. Of course Sam would want it to be technology and Daniel would want it to be words.

"No, I don't think so," Sam disagreed, "It seems like something that is activated by the brain wave pattern we found in Maia, just like these stones are supposed to activate."

"Then what good does it do us?" Jack asked.

"It's possible we can isolate and duplicate the frequency," Carter said.

Okay, Carter had just said the word 'possible' so that was encouraging.

But Jack answered to The Powers That Be and they liked "immediate answers" and not a series of sentences that all began "it might be."

On the other hand, finding technology would justify this little jaunt up the mountain. Jack was on medical leave and could technically do what he wanted. Daniel was on loan to the excavation, not the Royal Families, though the odds were that Command would let that go in the interest of diplomacy. Carter and Teal'c were just along for the ride and could legitimately have been given other temporary assignments. If they could come back with a technology known to repel the Goa'uld, it would go a long way to soothing any feathers that may be ruffled by Jack's commandeering of SG1. Daniel's discovery of the presence of Furlings might also help, but Command was a whole lot less interested in 'meaning of life stuff.'

However, at this point, his science hounds were on a scent. Getting them to stop would be like trying to put a saddle on a crocodile. He changed the subject. Catching Daniel's eye he tilted his head towards Nirok and Maia. The couple was standing off to the side, heads bowed towards one another, speaking in low tones.

"That looks promising," he commented.

Daniel studied them for a moment. "Well, I can't hear them. For all I know, they're swearing to murder each other in their sleep. But the body language isn't hostile; so maybe."

"Is she ready for this?"

"This?"

"This dancing rocks thing she has to do today?"

"Are you asking me about women again?"

"No I am asking you about _that_ woman and her state of mind."

Daniel blinked at him again. "I'm not that kind of doctor, Jack."

Teal'c spoke into the silence that followed.

"Maia is feeling confused and uncertain. She has been told since she was a small child that she has a special power. She is wondering what it feels like to use this power and why no one has ever told her how to use it. No one has ever described what the sacred stones do or what they look like. No one has ever told her why the heirs must display this power. In all the hours and days and years she has spent with her grandfather he has never explained the power or what it did and now she wonders why. She feels betrayed by this. She wonders if it will be something that she can feel and whether it will be frightening or soothing. She made the comparison to sunlight and to wind. Sunlight can warm or burn. Wind can cool or bring sandstorms. She worries that the power will be a two edged knife like those forces of nature and change her in ways over which she has no control.

"She also wonders why no one reads the Book of Theroc any more, what the Crown of Victory is and why its history has been lost to her People. She wonders what else has been lost to their complacency and time."

Finished, he stopped speaking abruptly. Jack, Sam, Daniel and Jillian were all staring at him.

"H-H-How do you know that?" Daniel finally stammered.

Teal'c leveled one of his thousand yard stares at Daniel.

"You slept through my second watch, Daniel Jackson. Maia did not. In fact, Maia has not slept through my watch for the last two nights."

"And she told you all that?"

"I find that people will often share freely if I remain silent," he remarked. "The darkness and firelight also seem to help. We shared many thoughts neither of us may have voiced in the light of day."

"You didn't say anything at all to her?" Sam asked.

He unpinned Daniel from the weight of his stare and turned to regard Carter.

"When she stopped speaking, I advised her to seek the council of Nirok. He has already experienced that which awaits her today."

They all turned at that point to look over at Maia and Nirok, still deep in their own conversation.

"Seems to have worked," Jack remarked.

"Indeed," Teal'c's voice was a lion's purr.

Jack experimentally flexed his wounded shoulder and bit back a grimace before his team could see it. It still hurt, just not as much. He was looking forward to having this trip over now; and whether or not they could start back down the mountain depended on Maia.

The young couple started walking back towards the group. They were not exactly holding hands but there was little distance between them. Jack found that encouraging. Maia's expression was drawn and her dark eyes clouded. Her face seemed unusually pale but she looked up at him with determination.

"I am ready," she said, simply.


	14. Chapter 14

After Jack had asked Teal'c to remain outside with Nirok, The group entered the Temple in respectful silence. Maia walked forward with determination, flanked by Hanif and Najah on her left; and Daniel and Jillian on her right. Hanif motioned for them to remain at the bottom of the stairs and then escorted Maia to the pillar in the center of the dais. He brought her to stand on the etching of the Crown of Stone and left her there.

Maia studied the elegant pillar before her and wondered if anything so lovely had ever looked so terrifying. She hoped that she looked calm and dignified; that she looked like the future ruler of two great People.

Inside she was a small child, afraid to fail her People, and her beloved grandfather. The Tauri made her feel small and insignificant. These towering statues made her feel even smaller. Were these really the ancient gods? She had been told that these great Beings had given her People a gift. She just did not know why.

She was shaking, deep in her bones, like someone about to step off a cliff. Tears threatened in her eyes and burned her throat. She glanced back at the group that had accompanied her all this way – strangers really, she had only known them for a short time. Oddly, she missed Nirok and longed to have him there in that crowd of people waiting for her so expectantly. He was the only one who knew what this was like, the only one that shared this experience.

She reached out and touched the pillar. It was cool under her hand, so hard and unyielding she could feel her pulse pounding in her fingertips. Samantha had told her the power was in her mind and all she had to do was relax.

Maia took a long, deep breath and then another, the way Teal'c had taught her in the dark and the cold of the last two nights.

At first she thought it was a trick of the light, or seeing what she so desperately wanted to see. An incandescent glow began in the center of the crystal pillar, gradually spilling outward in twisting tendrils of multi-colored light. Blues and greens, magenta and orange wisps of lights danced within the center pillar. Then it burst forth in brilliance, so suddenly Maia almost stepped back.

Bravely she held her ground and all around her the other pillars began to blaze with shimmering lights. A single spear of white light rose from the center pillar and hit the skylight above. Connecting shafts of light lanced upward to connect and form a single coruscating beam, concentrated on the skylight.

Behind Maia, a handful of the alabaster statues also began to glow. After only a few seconds they were too bright to look upon. The light rose up from them in a wave, joining the spires, causing the skylight to flicker like lightning.

Then a low hum seemed to surround them, as if it was coming from the Temple itself. The SGC team could _feel_ the sound reverberating in the room and the floor, in the very air itself.

The Sacred Stones were singing and dancing in Maia's presence; not even O'Neill could deny that.

Jack was not awed enough by the display to ignore the fact that Daniel was shouting into his radio for Teal'c to bring in Nirok.

"Daniel?" Jack raised his voice to be heard over the insistent chant.

"Just a hunch!" Daniel answered.

Jack started to demand more. He stopped when Daniel turned to look at Sam. Carter looked back at Daniel and nodded. Jack had been with both of them long enough to know when they were in total agreement about something. There were no words, but whatever Daniel's hunch was, Sam shared it. That was good enough for Jack. He abruptly shut up.

Nirok and Teal'c emerged from the tunnel. They both paused for a moment. Teal's paused, which meant he was deeply startled. Nirok looked simply elated.

Daniel crossed the distance between himself and Nirok in long, running strides. He took the man's hand and dragged him towards the dais. Nirok was too surprised to say anything.

"Go up there with her! Touch the pillar together," Daniel ordered.

Nirok started to refuse, but it was more from a habitual tendency to refuse orders. When he saw all of them staring at him expectantly, he moved forward with determination, blinking in the blinding, dancing lights. He took his place over the Crown of Crystal and laid his hand on the pillar.

Behind Nirok another one third of the statues burst into light, adding their own power to the throbbing beam streaking towards the ceiling. The skylight crackled with lightning. The raised relief on the dome began to glow, flickering feebly. Even half-blinded by the storm of light, it was evident the carvings were a representation of a Stargate and the skylight was the space inside it.

Over the rising song, Sam shouted, "It needs the third crown!"

"What does?" O'Neill yelled.

Daniel stopped gaping at the ceiling and turned to them.

"The Crown of Victory!" he said.


	15. Chapter 15

In the unsettled aftermath of Maia's encounter, Sam and Daniel had crawled all over the dais and the pillars searching for the technology, or at least some clue to it. Jillian had taken the Liaroans back out into the light of day, accompanied by Teal'c, and attempted to calm them while simultaneously questioning them about what had happened. Jack had gone back and forth between the groups until it became obvious none of them were getting anywhere.

"Daniel, Carter," Jack said into his radio, "Give it up and get back out here."

There was a pause and Jack didn't need to be there to know his science department was staring at each other in horror.

"That's an _order,_" he said, which he knew would work with at least one of them. Daniel might still need to be drug out by the scruff of his neck.

Sam emerged first, with Daniel trailing reluctantly after her. Jack motioned them over and the group was once more together. He stood there in the rising heat of the day, rubbing his sore neck until he noticed they were all staring at him.

He stopped abruptly.

Jack caught the last glimmer of concern for him that lingered in Sam's eyes before she quelled it. It made the blood run oddly in his veins. They were _all_ worried about him. Why was the look in Sam's eyes so much different?

"All right, someone bottom line this for me," he said.

For some reason they all looked at Carter.

"Keep it short and sweet? Please?" Jack begged. "That's not really a Stargate on the ceiling is it?"

"No, "Daniel answered, "It's the Crown of Victory."

"I thought the Crown of Victory was a weapon?" Jack asked.

"It is," Daniel said, "You asked if it was a Stargate. It's not."

Jack rubbed his eyebrows. "Daniel," he said, warningly.

"The Crown appears to be some kind of advanced particle beam weapon, sir," Samantha interrupted quickly.

Jack's impatience melted, even his throbbing shoulder felt better. Carter had said the words 'advanced' and 'weapon', which were words he understood and could appreciate.

"Do you know how it works?" he asked.

"I think it needs the telepathic frequencies generated by all three of the heirs to the Liaroan crowns," Sam answered.

"The frequencies you said we could recreate?"

"Yes, sir, but there is a lot I don't understand yet – like what it does specifically. But there is more here than just Daniel and I can find with our limited equipment. I'd recommend sending an entire research team back, along with someone from linguistics to work on the Furling language. The answers to all of this are probably in the library Jillian and Daniel found," Samantha went on.

"So Jillian and I should finish recording everything in there," Daniel filled in hastily.

A veteran of a desert war, Jack studied the sky and the gathering clouds and made what he knew was going to be an unpopular decision.

"Daniel, that's rain. You spent even more time in the desert than I have and you know it. We're leaving now," he said and rushed to continue before Daniel could protest. He held up a stern finger, "Uht! Look, I know what you're going to say. But I'm not putting all of us at risk just so you can record some old stuff with weird writing."

"But this..this," Daniel began.

"Isn't worth your life," Jack interrupted."It wasn't before and it isn't now. A little rain won't wash it away like the Helicopter place. You're driving me nuts again, Daniel! First you didn't want to come up here and now you don't want to leave!"

Daniel let out a long slow exasperated breath. "Heliopolis," he corrected, wearily.

"Whatever," Jack said, "Look, the military is going to be just as interested in all this. We'll come back. But first we have to get off this mountain."

"Daniel, we're running out of supplies," Samantha said. Jack let her go on. She probably wanted to stay as badly as Daniel did, but she was the more practical of the two. "We wouldn't have enough to leave with you and make it back ourselves. The Colonel is right. It will be here. You can bring back as many people as you want to translate the library. It's not like we can make the Crown work without all three heirs present."

"I know!" Daniel burst out, "There hasn't been peace between all three tribes in thousands of years; and it's not like the contacts with the Shunsh'ri haven't really gone all that well. They may not even let us come back here! The Temple belongs equally to all of them and not to us at all. This is going to take some first class diplomacy and, I know Jillian was raised by a diplomat but that doesn't exactly qualify either one us."

"It qualifies my father," Jillian said, softly. Her eyes locked with Daniels."He's spent the last ten years in the Middle East and Arabia. Getting him clearance would be the only issue. I know he would do it; and if not him then the SGC has people in place for this sort of negotiation."

Jillian walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. "Dan, look, I'd stay up here with you for as long as it takes. You know that; and I'd sell my soul to come back so that won't be an issue. But we have to go now, so we can come back and do this the right way."

Daniel sighed. 'The Right Way" was a royal pain in the ass, but a necessary one. Jillian went on.

"You know what it took to begin the dig in the valley. I doubt the same paperwork is going to apply. As an AAI, this ranks up there with the DSS. We need RFWOs and I'd suggest a first class CAA. We need an ARMR…."

"Rothman can do that," Daniel shrugged.

Jack stopped them before they could go on. "Okay! Enough with the archaeolo-gees," he said, "I hate when you two talk in letters."

"Oh come on, Jack," Daniel said, "I work for the SGC and had to learn to call my clothes BDUs. For the past few days I've been eating MREs. I could count speaking 'military acronyms' as another linguistic achievement."

"Well, whatever," Jack answered, "Carter and Jillian are both R I G H T."

Jack spelled it out carefully and slowly so Daniel would get the point.

Daniel's resistance collapsed like a sand castle in a rising tide. He would put himself at risk, if the circumstances demanded it; but not all of them and he wouldn't risk something as important as this discovery.

"All right," Jack said, being gracious in victory, "The next order of business is to break camp, start heading back down the mountain and find some high ground to ride out the storm."

Daniel nodded and moved off towards the camp with Jillian. The rest trailed behind. Maia was arm in arm with Nirok, leaning on him heavily.

"You should warn your father about all the men who will want to buy you from him," he commented.

"That could be a problem," Jillian answered.

Startled, Daniel looked at her. "Why?"

Jillian smiled a little. "When my father finds out what I've been doing for the last four years, he might actually sell me."

Jack drove them hard down the trail. His intended destination was the high ground they had discovered just before meeting the Shunsh'ri. When Teal'c had been ordered to take the others to cover he had discovered a small cave. If they were about to face a storm in the desert, Jack liked the idea of a highly placed cave.

They reached it just as the rain began to pelt down and darkness was falling. Backpacks fell from exhausted shoulders and hit the dirt floor with a solid thump. They set up lanterns and the smaller tents. The cave was barely tall enough for the SG team to stand up; and hardly wide enough for just three tents. Jillian gave hers to Maia and Najah, who also agreed it made sense for Carter to share it.

It was apparent to everyone that Jillian intended to share a tent with Daniel. Daniel was relieved when no one said a word. It wasn't an argument he felt like having.

In the end, they ate a meal of cold food and water, while outside the rain increased the wind began to howl.

Teal'c sat down near the entrance of the cave to keep watch. He would guard the area alone for the night since the Jaffa rarely needed sleep and they all doubted anything would venture out on a night like this. Only something with a strong suicidal tendency would brave the growing storm.

Jack crawled into the remaining tent with Hanif and Nirok, allowed a brief moment to envy Daniel the companionship of Jillian, and then fell into an exhausted sleep.

The storm lasted all night. Lightning crackled in the sky, flickering in the cave like dancing specters. Morning was dismal. A steady rain still fell, straight down. The wind had abandoned them and the storm appeared stalled over them. They were going to be miserable, but O'Neill made the decision to keep going anyway. A cold breakfast of energy bars and water was followed by unpacking rain gear.

They walked down the mountain in a very different world from the one they had climbed up in. The endless blue sky was hidden behind a solid gray and unforgiving mass. The ground beneath their boots had once been firm and stony. Now it was a sticky wet clay mash and the stones threatened to make them go sliding at every step. There was no escaping the endless drizzle or the humidity it caused.

Jack and Teal'c took point, with Sam in the middle with the Liaroans. Daniel and Jillian had the six, which suited them. They had noticed an abrupt change in Maia's attitude towards Nirok. While they had walked up the mountain in determined silence, they now walked side by side, nearly touching and speaking together at length. They were hidden by their borrowed rain ponchos but their heads were bent towards each other.

"Our little girl is growing up," Jillian remarked.

"What? Oh. Maia. Yeah, I guess being confirmed as a 'true heir' can be an ego boost."

"She seems to have warmed up to Nirok at least."

"It probably helps that Nirok isn't acting like quite such an arrogant…" Daniel stopped abruptly.

"Ass?" Jillian supplied.

Daniel glanced at her, humor tugging at the corners of his mouth in spite of the steady drizzle. "I wasn't going to be quite so blunt."

"Hey, you're the one who gets hauled off and forced into diplomacy, not me," she said, "and I regularly go off world in the company of military men. I've heard worse. But you're right. Nirok does seem less ….objectionable."

Jillian happened to look at Daniel just as the humor faded from his eyes and a shadow passed over them. Maia's arranged marriage was dredging up too many memories. Reminding Daniel that his own arranged marriage had worked out wouldn't do anyone a bit of good. It would just cause him pain; and pain would drive him into a self-imposed exile. She reached for his hand, which was cold and damp but still strong and immediate.

It was late by the time they came to the stream. The calm, bubbling brook it had been was gone. In its place was a surging whitewater. The trees were all but submerged. The bank where Daniel had knelt and examined the marks in the hard soil was gone. Even the place where they had camped was gone. They walked just above the river and the footing was treacherous. The rushing water had reached the height of the trail and forced the marching unit into single file.

Later Maia would tell them that she didn't know why she slipped, but she thought her heel hit a stone hidden in a puddle. One moment she was purposefully putting one foot in front of the other and the next she was crying out and falling. By sheer reflex she grabbed a tree branch even as her weight and momentum pulled her into the river. The water raged around her, snatching at its victim. Maia's screams echoed off the rocks.

Reacting on instinct, Carter bolted towards her only to have her feet go out from under her in the slippery clay. Jack moved just fast enough to seize Carter around the waist with his left arm, though he slipped too and landed hard on his tailbone. The breath went out of him as he reached up with his right arm to grab another tree to stop both he and Carter from sliding into the river.

His right arm. His wounded right arm. The pain was like a banshee howling from his neck to his wrist. But if he let go they would both be swept away.

"TEAL'C!" he shrieked.

But Teal'c had his hands full elsewhere. Nirok, in a move that was either very brave or very stupid, had charged after Maia. At the moment Nirok was clinging to a tree limb by his legs and one hand like a monkey. His other hand was holding Maia by the arm as her tentative grasp on the wet branch started to slip. Teal'c reached Nirok and unceremoniously began hauling both of them to safety.

Jillian was holding Hanif and Najah back as they struggled to get to the floundering Royal Couple. Her own feet were planted as firmly as possible in the slick mud. That left Daniel to slide and slip as best he could in an attempt to reach Jack and Sam.

Daniel barely managed not to crash into both of them.

"Get Carter," Jack ordered unnecessarily.

Bracing his foot against the stump of a tree, Daniel got Sam under both arms and simply dragged her back onto the narrow trail. He turned to get Jack and found that O'Neill had already turned, though the movement was agony, and crawled to safety on his belly.

"Jack!" Daniel knelt and helped O'Neill sit up.

He didn't miss the grimace of pain on Jack's face and neither did Sam. She scrambled over to them, unclipping her pack to get to the first aid kit.

"I'm fine," Jack gasped.

"I've got him, "she told Daniel, "Check the others."

Daniel found Hanif and Nirok fussing over their perspective royals. For their part the royals seemed unaware of their presence or anyone else's. They were wrapped in each other's arms, sitting in the mud. Their eyes were closed and from what words Daniel could catch both seemed equally relieved and overjoyed the other was alive.

Daniel glanced at Teal'c.

"You okay?" he asked.

Teal'c nodded his reply. "O'Neill?"

"He'll live," Daniel answered.

Daniel then moved cautiously to Jillian's side.

"Jill?" he asked.

She nodded, unable to speak. Then she leaned forward and rested her head against his collar bone, just below his chin and without thinking he put his arms around her. He didn't care if someone said something about it either. It was suddenly very necessary to hold her.

Jack's voice cut through everything.

"All right, head count! Who's hurt?"

"Besides you?" Daniel asked, sharply.

"We all appear to have escaped unharmed, O'Neill," Teal'c replied steadily.

"All right then," Jack went on, ignoring Daniel, "Let's pair up and get off this Slip and Slide before we reach the new and exciting level where one of us gets hurt. Teal'c walk with Maia…"

"I want to stay with Nirok," she interrupted, fiercely.

"Look Princess, our job is to get you up and down this mountain safely and at the moment we stand the best chance of doing that if you walk with Teal'c. Daniel, stay behind them with Nirok. Carter, you're with Hanif and Najah you're with me. Jillian, stay with Daniel. Teal'c take point."

Obediently they fell into line as Jack had instructed. Slowly and with great caution they continued the perilous journey down the mountain.


	16. Chapter 16

The Great Hall of the Bak'ri was a tent that would make Ringling Brothers envious. At the moment it was filled from brightly colored wall to brightly colored wall with Un'ri and Bak'ri of every conceivable age and description. Tribal elders and officials mingled freely with the People, traded smiles and jokes and hugs. Opposing flaps were flung open to the desert and hundreds more of the Liaroans could be seen celebrating.

It was possible the planet had not ever seen a banquet of these proportions. The SGC team stood to one side. Jack and Sam were resplendent in dress blues, Teal'c in a formal suit. Daniel and Jillian were once again wearing the blue and crimson native clothing, having served for one last time as Maia's surrogate parents at the wedding and later at the signing of the peace treaty. A throng of people moving towards the outside swept them along until they were standing in the desert breeze. Dusk was falling and fireworks were exploding to mingle with the streaks of light blazing from the setting sun – the thunderous sound of joy.

The newly married couple moved through the crowd and joined them. They were both shimmering in white and gold robes, wearing their crowns with heads held high. They looked radiant.

"We wanted to thank you for everything you did to make this possible," Nirok said.

"Don't mention it," Jack shrugged, "It was fun; and Daniel found something that will keep him occupied for a while."

"Once we clear all the red tape," Daniel groaned.

"We'll do everything we can to help, Daniel," Maia said, looking at him hopefully.

Jillian nudged Daniel in the arm. "Smile. It's their wedding day."

She looked like she might say something else when her attention was seized by a small, determined form coming towards them.

"Ut-oh," Daniel said.

"What?" Jack asked, alarmed.

"Karufu," Daniel said, "The guy who's been trying to buy Jillian from me since I got here."

Surprisingly however, Karufu had his anxious gaze fixed on Maia. He marched up to Nirok and began babbling in the language of the Bak'ri. After a moment, Nirok responded fiercely. They went on that way for a few moments and then Karufu bowed and walked away.

Maia was beaming. She kissed Nirok on the cheek and then moved away in the direction of the Royal Pavilion, giving him a blazing come-hither look as she did so.

"What was that all about?" Jack asked.

"Well it seems Karufu wants to buy Maia now, and Nirok refused."

"What did he say?" Sam asked.

"Nirok told him that even if Karufu offered him the sun, the moon and all the stars it would not be enough to make him part with his wife," Daniel answered, watching speculatively as Nirok followed Maia like an obedient puppy.

"Oh," Jack said and then after a pause, "That man is about to get so lucky."

"Oh yeah," Daniel said.

"I believe this as well," Teal'c said.

Jillian laced her fingers with Daniel's and leaned against him. It took him a moment but when he finally looked down into her eyes he found them filled with smoky fire. She gently began drawing him away from the group, towards their own tent.

"Where are you two going?" Jack demanded.

When he didn't get any kind of answer except their retreating backs, Teal'c said, "I believe Daniel Jackson is also about to 'get lucky', O'Neill."

Beside them, Carter flushed pink to the roots of her hair and made an excuse about going to get something to drink.

Teal'c and O'Neill watched until both couples had vanished behind tent flaps.

"Teal'c, buddy," Jack said, with a sigh, "there is something wrong when between the three of us guys the only one getting the serious attention of a beautiful woman is the science geek.'

Teal'c lifted an eyebrow and after a pause said, "Indeed."

~~FINIS~~


End file.
